One Word at a Time
by Evervescent
Summary: After being released from prison after 50 years, Inuyasha Takahashi scores himself a job working at a quiet bookstore. Little does he know that the girl who hired him can offer him more than he had ever hoped for.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: First of all, thank you anyone and everyone for giving this fic a chance — I hope you like the first chapter of my first fanfic!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or its characters.

* * *

_Are you fucking serious?_

He wasn't as surprised as he should have been, to be honest. It wasn't as if 50 years would change society's views much, and it wasn't as if he didn't know what was going on in the time that he was gone. He had just assumed there were more people who were more... open-minded? Kind, pure, had a heart?

Someone who didn't care... Someone who never did care, doesn't, and never would.

But of course, people like that didn't exist in his world. His world was just black and white, where he was the hideous shade of grey in between that no one liked.

The whole time he tried to tell himself that someone would take him in, in the back of his mind he knew that he would get rejected from every single place he tried. The world was just like that.

A cold, narrow-minded, and cruel place that seemed to exist just to torture and laugh at him.

He should have known that his older brother wouldn't even consider showing him much sympathy past bringing him home. Or should he say, to his new home, because the aforementioned sibling refused to share a home with his so-called disgrace of a brother if he could help it.

It wasn't a terrible house — two floors, two bedrooms, and in a decent part of town, already furnished with basic necessities. His brother's excuse for not buying a vermin infested apartment in the middle of nowhere?  
_  
"Doing so would further violate and bring shame to the family bloodline, half-breed."_

His dear ol' brother was probably growing soft on him, not like he would ever admit it.

Though the house itself had already been paid for, water bills, electricity bills, food, and everything else was up to him to pay. After checking his bank accounts, piggy banks, and pockets he found himself with scarcely 500,000 yen to his name. Knowing that the money wouldn't last him very long with the expenses he would have to make, he set out looking for a job.

Finding a decent job in Tokyo obviously wasn't going to be an easy thing — it was a busy city, the heart of Japan, where demons and humans alike constantly looked for jobs with better pay, less hours, and it wasn't an easy game.

Especially when no one even wanted to consider hiring you.

Sure, he had a lot of good qualities that could prove to be beneficial in lots of different fields. He had a Bachelor's and a Master's degree, exceptional physical and mental endurance, and could be quite the multitasker if he tried, the last two due to his demon blood.

His bad qualities, in comparison, stacked up much higher. He had a fiery short temper, little to no patience, and possessed no tact for talking to people. One might think that it was a result of the two different bloods flowing through his body, fighting each other.

His nose twitched and he sneezed as a smoker passed by him on the sidewalk. He earned himself a disgusted sneer from the smoker, and was promptly assaulted by another puff of the foul grey air that was purposefully blown into his face.

"How disgusting... a _hanyou._"

Though the words were muttered after the man had passed him by at least 15 feet, two snowy white dog ears perched on top of his head twitched once and easily caught the words. Snorting to himself, he let the insult bounce off his person and continued walking down the sidewalk. Street lights were beginning to turn on as the day faded to night.

After asking at twelve different places hiring for a job he knew he qualified for and being turned down at each and every single one without a single glance, he knew the chances of him finding a job today - or any other day, for that matter- were basically slim to none. He was starting to wander into the quieter parts of Tokyo, where stores and businesses were scarce, but still present nonetheless. At this point, he was somewhat desperate; hopefully one of these shops was in need of some form of assistance he could offer.

Unfortunately for him, many stores were beginning to close. Owners stood out in front, locking doors and puling down metal safety gates before turning heel and walking ones that weren't didn't have signs requesting help up.

Passing an open hardware store, he shuddered as he remembered asking at a hardware store earlier in the morning for a job.

* * *

_A bright red and white 'Help Wanted' sign stood out in front of a large hardware store on the busy Tokyo street_.

_A hardware store was a place he could work at. He could handle all tools, and name a large variety of them. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door, wincing a little as the bell at the top of the door chimed loudly, signaling his entrance. _

_After passing through shelves and shelves of miscellaneous tools, nails, and saws, he sighed when he finally sighted a counter in the back, with a human man fiddling with some type of glue gun, muttering to himself as he tried to fix out whatever was wrong with the gun. _

_"Uh, excuse me?"_

_The cashier looked up at him in surprise, obviously not noticing his presence beforehand. He didn't miss the way the man's eyes quickly darted to his ears before going back to his face, and he pretended to ignore the scent of disgust and nervousness that suddenly emanated off of the human._

_"How can I help you?"_

_The words were spoken quick and sharp._

_"I noticed your sign outside, in the window. I'm lookin' for a job, and I was wondering if —"_

_The cashier seemed to stiffen suddenly and he swiftly cut him off. "I'm sorry, but we are currently not hiring."_

_A dark eyebrow was raised. "I saw your sign outside. Look, I know you might not want someone like me on staff, but I can—"_

_"Oh, that sign? Was out ages ago, we simply forgot to take it down. I... apologize for any inconvenience."_

_He fixed the cashier with an intimidating gaze, obviously angry at having such an obvious lie thrown to his face._

_"Oh no, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it at all..."_

_Narrowing his flashing eyes at the human, he smirked when he noticed the spike in fear in his scent. He smacked his hand on the counter and turned away to leave._

_If there as one thing he could thank his demon heritage for, it was the ability of scaring the shit out of people._

_On his way out, he heard the door open and a human walk into the store, heading for the back._

_Just before he left, he managed to catch the beginnings of a conversation._

_"Hi, I'm here to ask about the job? I saw your 'Help Wanted' sign outside."_

_"Of course, sir, right this way..."_

_If there was one thing he hated his demon heritage for, it was the fact he was cursed with the unlucky capability to hear things he didn't want to._

* * *

It was almost 8:00 now, and all the stores on the block had been closed. Stores had decided to close earlier, it seemed, as cold weather began to sweep the nation. It was only mid October, but frozen winds were already creeping in on the country.

He stuck his hands in his jacket pocket with a sigh. Well, if these were the last stores open, then—

He stopped. A rather dim light emanated from the corner of the block. Curious, he sped up his steps, walking eagerly along the street until he hit the corner.

A store!

Looking up, he read the sign. _Shikon, _it said. Inside the store, he could see clearly it was a bookstore. Rows and rows of books of all sizes. It may not have been his forte, and the store may not have had a sign up saying they were hiring, but it was definitely worth a shot. He'd gone into stores before that didn't say they were hiring to inquire.

Frankly, he just didn't feel like doing this all over again in another part of Tokyo tomorrow.

Pulling open the door, he was relieved when no annoying jangling of bells or chimes hit his sensitive ears. He could scent only one person in the store, a woman on the second floor who obviously hadn't noticed him come in.

_Stupid, what if I was a robber?_

Shaking his head at the girl's stupidity, he gazed around the store. There were two floors— the second floor overlooked the first from all sides of the building, with bookcases in a single line pressed back against the walls. A long staircase in the corner led down to the first floor, near a small alcove with a few beanbags chairs and recliners and an unlit fireplace. The rest of the floor consisted of bookshelves and tables as far as he could see. For such an impressively large and well maintained store, he would have expected more customers and a few employees, even at this hour.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I hadn't noticed anybody had come in."

He turned his gaze to the young woman rushing down the wooden stairs. She was young, probably a few years less than himself. She had long dark hair which flowed behind her as she hurried towards him and large brown eyes that should have been ordinary, but instead were so unique his breath hitched in his throat as they made eye contact. He saw her lips move, but his brain barely registered the words coming out of her mouth.

For a human, she sure was pretty.

"Uh, sir?"

He quickly shook himself out of his reverie. The girl smiled shyly at him and giggled at what was probably the very dumb look on his face.

"...Can you repeat that?"

The girl grinned, and her white teeth were practically blinding. "How may I help you?"

He sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Right, uh..." He gruffly cleared his throat before continuing. "I was wondering if you were looking to hire? I know you didn't have a sign out, but I—"

The girl smacked herself on the forehead. "Oh, the sign! I knew I had forgotten something. You must be psychic, I've been needing an extra hand around here! Oh, thank you, _thank you_!"

He stared a little dumbfounded at her. He hadn't been sure what he had expected, but it sure as hell wasn't this.

Wasn't she going to turn him away? Maybe she hadn't realized yet, or maybe she was more sheltered than she looked. After all, she was alone in a bookstore in the corner of nowhere...

He watched her dance around the store a little before she seemed to regain her sanity and situated herself in front of him again, looking up at him and sticking her hand out.

"Sorry for not introducing myself before! I'm Kagome Higurashi, the owner of this bookstore. What's yours?"

Regarding the strange woman before him cautiously, he slowly reached out his hand to take hers and give it a light shake.

"Inuyasha Takahashi."

* * *

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Feel free to review and leave any comments/criticisms.

Also, I noticed a little last minute that I had made a mistake mentioning Miroku — how can they be best friends if Inuyasha was in jail for half a century? Can't have that lech being an old geezer, now, can we?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's chapter 2! Thank you SO much, anyone and everyone who viewed, reviewed, followed, and favorite'd my story! It really did make my day, and I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, or A Dark Night's Passing.

* * *

Inuyasha wasn't entirely sure as to what he was expecting when he walked into _Shikon. _Rejection, yes. Disgust and disapproval, yes. But maybe somewhere deep inside him, he was expecting acceptance? After all, a young woman who ran a giant bookstore alone and kept it open when most other stores closed couldn't be ordinary, right?

And the store and Kagome themselves... just seemed to radiate warmth and comfort. Two things which he had not felt in ages, it seemed.

_Well, it HAS been half a century, Takahashi. To some humans, that's a whole lifetime._

He looked at Kagome, who most certainly was not fifty years old, or anywhere near the age, most likely still in her twenties. The way she skipped around the store and smiled so brightly made her appear years younger in his eyes, however.

"Well Takahashi-san, I hope you didn't come to just inquire about a job, because I would love to conduct an interview with you right now!" At Inuyasha's surprised look, she hastily continued. "Nothing fancy or highly official — this _is _just a bookstore after all. Unless you don't know what a book is, I'm pretty sure you'll do fine." She grinned brightly at him.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "I guess an interview now would be fine. And it's just Inuyasha, none of that Takahashi-san stuff."

If possible, Kagome's smile grew. "Alright, Inuyasha. Then you can just refer to me as Kagome!" She laughed and began walking towards the front door. "See? We're already comfortable with each other. I might as well just give you the job right now!" Flipping the sign on the door from "Open" to "Closed", she turned and winked at him. "We can't exactly have people trying to shop while I'm conducting an interview, can we?"

He opened his mouth to protest, but she seemed to guess what he was about to say. "Don't worry, it's almost closing time anyway. Besides, I doubt anyone is going to come in now." She ducked behind the front counter and popped back out with clipboard and a pen. She gestured to the small alcove in the store and followed him as he walked in front of her.

Inuyasha was about to plop himself onto the floor when he froze. He couldn't act so casual and uncaring if he wanted a job now. Keeping a mental note to be professional and at least somewhat respectful, he slowly settled himself into a large brown recliner by the fireplace. His potential boss gave him a curious look before dropping down in the recliner opposite him.

"So, Inuyasha, have you brought a resume with you?"

He almost choked. A resume? He had no job experience, save for a few hours of volunteer work he had done at a library when he was in high school. He hadn't even thought of making a resume, and it wasn't as if any other store he'd looked into asked for one. They took one look at his ears and dismissed him. The one place where he was given a chance, and he didn't bring a freaking resume.

He lowered his head before gruffly answering. "No, I don't."

"Oh."

He winced and waited for her dismissal of him.

"Well that's alright."

His ears were broken. They got ripped off his head and flung far, far away, because for a second, it seemed like the girl was giving him yet _another _chance.

"Wait, what?"

Kagome shrugged sheepishly and offered a tentative smile. "Well, it's a job at a bookstore. Its not like I need to know what kinds of experience you've had before or any of that jazz. I'd rather just get to know you. Can't have a deranged book-hater working here, you know?"

Was he gaping? He couldn't feel his fangs on his lips anymore.

"You might want to close your mouth, or it'll get stuck that way."

That answered that question.

"So, I guess I'll just be interviewing you. Just the basic questions, so don't stress too much."

Taking a deep breath, Inuyasha looked her straight in the eye and nodded. "I'm ready."

With the edges of her mouth twitching upwards, Kagome looked down at her clipboard and clicked open the pen. "Well, I already know your name... you don't have a middle name, do you?"

"No."

"Alright..." She scribbled down his name, _Inuyasha Takahashi, _at the top of her clipboard. He leaned forward a little, and his sharp eyes managed to see his name being written. Her handwriting was pretty — there wasn't another word for it. Neat, but at the same time artsy and pristine. She dotted her _i's _with small circles, he noted. The 'i' at the end of his last name was the perfect outline of a circle.

He managed to catch himself and looked up before she noticed him.

"Okay, Inuyasha. How old are you?"

"..."

"Inuyasha?"

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, uh, it's just that there's two answers. In demon years, and in human years, so..."

"Oh." Kagome furrowed her brow. She hadn't thought of that. Of course she knew that demons aged at a much slower ace than humans, but she hadn't been focusing on it at the time.

"Well, why don't you give me in humans years, then? It'll just be easier for me to comprehend seeing a double digit number on my paper than something in the hundreds or thousands, okay?"

He grunted and gave her a shrug. "Sure. I'm... 27."

"27? You don't sound too sure."

"I'm not."

Kagome gave him a disbelieving look, but reluctantly wrote down his age either way. "What makes you think you'd be a good candidate for working here?"

_Nothing. I just need a job._

"Uh... I used to volunteer at a library?"

That's right! He had worked at a library — this was a bookstore. Close enough, right?

"Really? Which library?" She couldn't sound more excited if she tried. Kagome must have really loved her books.

"The Tokyo Institute of Technology Library. I know the Nippon Decimal Classification and how to use microfiche."

Kagome smiled at him, her eyes sparkling as though she'd just stumbled upon the pot of gold at the end of a double rainbow. "You're more experienced in this than I thought! We don't use the NDC in bookstores, that's mostly for libraries, since we are going to be selling books, not lending them out. But we do have a microfiche machine, and it's wonderful if you already know how to use it!"

She gestured to an old looking computer-like machine on a table in the corner. There were some filing cabinets stacked up next to it, no doubt holding the microfilms in them. It looked virtually untouched.

"It's not the most... _popular _part of the store, but people will use it sometimes. Besides, I can't bear to part with it. It's been a part of this store since it opened."

He smiled. After 50 years, he expected such old forms of technology to be replaced by all the fancy tablets and laptops. Being stuck in jail didn't mean he was completely clueless. He got newspapers sometimes, access to computers occasionally, and read up on the changing modern world. He was partially disgusted at how much humans seemed to rely on the technology, but after trying some himself, grudging accepted that it was "neat" and left it alone.

"Keh, people these days don't even know what microfiche is. They're too wrapped up with their stupid phones — it's a good thing you still have that dinosaur lying around."

She agreed with a nod of her head. "Sure is." Kagome continued scribbling away on her clipboard. "What's your favorite book?"

_Okay... didn't see that one coming._ He couldn't stop the response from slipping out of his mouth. "Really?"

He looked so taken aback and surprised that she couldn't help but laugh. "I hope you didn't expect this interview to be so formal. This is a bookstore, and I'm rather curious. Don't worry, there's no right or wrong answer."

A little more reassured that this question was more for her sake than for the application, he barely had to think. He rather enjoyed reading. Something he inherited from his mother was her love of literature. His answer rolled off his tongue.

"A Dark Night's Passing."

Kagome's eyes seemed to light up. "Ohhh, that book was wonderful! Naoya Shiga had such great perspective on Kensaku, he wrote it like he himself was the character."

The rest of Inuyasha' interview was quick — the basic questions were asked, with a few odd ones pertaining to literature and books asked.

That was, until they came to the question he had been dreading.

"Do you have a criminal record?"

He refused to meet her eyes, focusing his eyes on a small piece of lint on his pants. "Yes."

It was barely audible; it wasn't whispered, but almost choked out in a low voice.

"Was that a yes?"

Did she seriously not hear him, or was she just mocking him?

Inuyasha cleared his throat and raised his voice the slightest bit. "Yes."

His closed his eyes, waiting for the immediate dismissal that was sure to follow.

"Alright then. At least you're honest about it."

His head shot up, eyes as wide as could be, no matter how hard he tried to mask his surprise. He couldn't catch her facial expression because she her head was ducked as she scribbled on her clipboard.

When she finished though, he saw the very expression on her face.

It was the same. The same as it had been the rest of the day. Smile-y, slightly tired, and optimistic.

Did she not get the meaning of the word "yes"?

Either she assumed whatever crime he committed was something was something small, like shoplifting, or she was really desperate for some help in her shop.

It had to be one of those two.

"I apologize for this, but I'm afraid I have to ask what... it was."

And he was sorry she'd be afraid of him after his answer.

He steeled himself to answer her question and forced himself to meet her eyes.

"50 years ago, I was accused of murdering my girlfriend."

He dared her to judge him— dared her to kick him out of her bookstore. He'd laugh, say he knew it, and never look back.

"50 years ago? How is that even... oh yeah, it's the demon blood, right?"

There was no way his ears weren't broken now. They had to be. There was no other way he would have heard what she had just said now. Unless it was all a dream, and he hadn't even started looking for a job yet because the day had never started.

More scribbling. More perfect circles dotting i's and more near, slightly slanted printed words forming on her paper.

He couldn't take it anymore.

"What in all the seven hells is _wrong _with you?!"

Kagome jumped at the sudden loud shout coming from the interviewee.

"What do you mean, what's wrong with me?"

"I mean—" Inuyasha jumped up and pointed an accusing finger down at her. "I mean what's wrong with you? You're giving a half-breed a shot at a job, and it doesn't even seem like you give two shits that I'm a MURDERER!"

She could only stare at him in shock.

"Inuyasha..."

She stood up and walked over to a table in a father corner of her store. She opened up a metal filing cabinet and began to leaf through its contents. Inuyasha just watched her, his breathing heavily from his latest outburst. He watched as Kagome settled on a paper, pulled it out of the cabinet, and walked back over to him.

"Here."

..._Inuyasha Takahashi..._

The first thing he noticed was his name in bold, part of the large headline on the front page of the newspaper he was holding.

..._charged for the murder of high priestess Kikyo..._

There it was. In black and white— a newspaper from 50 years ago.

50 years ago, when he had allegedly murdered Kikyo.

..._he pleaded innocent..._

He had never actually seen the newspapers from that day, the claims they had made about him, or against him.

Suddenly, he was 50 years back in the past. He could see Kikyo's body on the stretcher, the doctors saying there was little to no chance of her making it, the onlookers throwing his accusatory glances and hateful sneers. But Kikyo's expression was the only thing that seemed to matter.

Her mouth was open, but only partway. She was pale, she looked already dead.

And her eyes. They were angry. Upset, haunted, lifeless.

Betrayed.

A small finger was tapping the newspaper, jolting him out of his temporary shock.

"I saw the news a few days ago. Your jail release was on it. I knew you looked familiar to me."

He continued to stare down at the paper. "Why do you have...?"

She offered him a sad smile. "I know this store inside and out, including the archives. Finding this was just a quick memory check."

"What does this have to do with—"

Kagome took the newspaper back, folding it neatly and tucking it back into her box of archives. "If you thought you were innocent, then you were, right? Who can tell you otherwise?"

His hands still held the position of holding the paper. Realizing he must look like an idiot, he shook himself out of his reverie.

"Keh! Apparently the police." He adjusted his rather enormous red haori-like jacket and started towards the door. "Look, I don't need reminding, I'll just be on—"

"I never said you didn't get the job."

He froze and looked back at the girl. "...What?"

"Well, I sure hope I didn't. You seem like a great candidate and sound like you know your way around books. How'd you like the job?"

He shut his mouth, deathly afraid he'd say something that might not get him the job. He opted for nodding instead.

"Yay!" Kagome bounced over and shook his hand enthusiastically. "Welcome to _Shikon_, Inuyasha Takahashi! It's going to be a pleasure to have you here."

His hand opened in an almost automatic reflex as he attempted to curl his claws away from her delicate flesh without seeming rude. Luckily for him, she was looking at his face rather than their hands.

Though he had on only a faint smile on the outside, inside he was almost fainting from relief.

It appeared as though he had met someone who liked the color grey.

* * *

A/N: I sincerely hope you liked this chapter. I was afraid I rushed the ending, so please tell me your ideas!

Also, I want to mention that Kagome's handwriting was inspired by a font called British Quest, which does not belong to me, but to Jonathan Harris.

I had a lot of fun researching Japanese literature until I found a book I thought Inuyasha might like. A Dark Night's Passing seemed really interesting.

I want this story to be as realistically accurate as possible. Yes, the Nippon Decimal Classification system really does exist. It's Japan's version of the Dewey Decimal System used in the USA.

I'd like to point out Japan does use microfiche (microfilm), but also something called _shukusatsuban_, but I couldn't find much information on it, so I decided not to mention it in my story.

Again, thank you everyone for your views, comments, and if you fave or follow this story!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N/: Hey guys! I hope this didn't take too long to update— here's the third chapter!

Disclaimer: I could lie, say I'm Rumiko Takahashi. But I'm not. Therefore, I do not own Inuyasha.

* * *

Mornings were not his thing.

He couldn't imagine how they were anyone's 'thing'. It was a wretched feeling, being jostled out of a peaceful sleep by a loud ringing, especially with ears like his. His sensitive little dog ears flattened themselves into his thick argenteous hair. He groaned and rolled over, shoving his face into his pillow. He was enjoying his dreamless sleep until that godforsaken alarm clock jolted him right out of it. Why had he set an alarm clock in the first place? It wasn't as if he had to go to school or work or anything...

_Work!_

He cursed loudly and stared at his alarm clock. It was six in the morning, not a natural waking time for him. However, Kagome insisted he get to work about an hour and a half before the store opened like she did, so they could clean up and get the store into shape. She had assigned him the same hours she worked, which meant every day the store was open, he was there, working all day long until it closed.

It wasn't much of a problem, honestly. She said he got a lunch break, and any day the store was open late, a dinner break as well. His demon blood allowed him to not get as tired as a normal human, and he doubted working in a bookstore would be fatiguing anyway.

He was surprised by his pay. It was a considerably larger amount than he had expected— about 3600 yen per hour, if he remembered correctly. He supposed she was being generous since he was the only other worker at her store. He knew she wasn't splitting all her profits with him fifty-fifty, of course, but it was much higher than minimum wage.

She asked that he be in the store by seven thirty, since _Shikon_ opened at nine that day. He figured that he could give himself an hour and a half to get ready and go to the store. It wasn't as if showering, eating, and getting dressed took forever.

A shower and two cups of ramen later, he was regretting his former words,

What the hell do you wear to a bookstore?

He remembered Kagome was wearing nice clothes — not business casual nice, just... nice. A simple looking skirt and button down top that matched. Casual, but not sweatshirt-and-jeans casual.

He looked at the time on his clock and cussed. Grabbing his cleanest looking pair of jeans and red button down shirt, he threw them on and was out the door.

He took to the high rooftops, leaping off the middles of buildings as quickly as he could, more for the sake of not being seen rather than being late. He could make it to her store with time to spare — he'd just rather not have anyone look at him while he did it.

He missed this feeling of freedom he got when he was near flight, soaring above high rises and everybody's heads. It felt even better after fifty years of not being able to.

He dropped to the ground soundlessly right beside Kagome, who was standing in front of _Shikon, _fumbling around in her pocketbook for the keys. She started violently at the hanyou's sudden appearance.

"Keh, that scared you?"

Kagome put a hand over her heart and raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, it's not everyday someone casually drops out of the sky. I'm glad to see you're right on time, Inuyasha!"

He snorted. "Not gonna be late— it's my first day on the job."

She smiled at him and unlocked the door. They both stepped inside, and Kagome locked the door behind them, explaining that she would unlock them when the store officially opened later. Inuyasha followed her behind the wooden counter and into the storage room behind it.

"This is where we keep all our shipments when they're delivered, so if we ever get a delivery, make sure you have them bring the boxes back in here. If it's locked, there should be a key behind the counter," Kagome explained, gesturing to the many boxes in the room behind her and a small drawer on the back of the counter.

"Got it."

"So yesterday, we got a whole bunch of new shipments, and I only managed to tag them with their prices. What you and I have to do now is put them onto the shelves. All the shelves should be clearly labeled by genre, and each genre is sorted in alphabetical order by the authors last name, like they do in the libraries. Sound familiar?"

Inuyasha nodded. The bookstore was quite like the library he had worked in, just not as large and had a slightly different system.

"So do you think you've got it down?" She received another silent nod.

"Whoa, control your excitement," she drawled sarcastically. "Alright, the boxes are heavy, so just grab one at a time and start..." She trailed off as she watched Inuyasha stack four boxes into his arms and walk out of the storage room.

"Show off," she grumbled as she grabbed her own box labeled "Biographies" and headed for the back section of the store where the biographies were shelved.

"I heard that." Kagome's head shot up, staring at hew new employee who was already on the second floor with a box open, neatly sliding them into their appropriate places. Shaking her head in amazement, she opened up her own box and began on her work.

After she finished each box, she went back into the storage room for a new one. There were many boxes stacked up in no particular order. Normally, it would have taken her days to finish stocking the books, and during those days she would get more shipments. But with Inuyasha's help, who worked almost triple her speed, they had nearly finished the contents of the storage room, with only five or six more boxes left to go.

At nine o'clock sharp, Kagome grabbed her keys and unlocked the door, pushing it wide open and holding it in place with the door stopper. "Now we just wait for the customers. I'll man the register, but I'd like you to just hang around and help anyone with anything they might need, alright? If anyone has a question you can't answer, come to me."

"Got it." Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest and stalked away from the counter. _For a first day on a new job, it's a hell of a lot easier than I thought it'd be._

Kagome smiled at his retreating form.

* * *

Their first customer that morning entered about ten minutes after they opened. She practically danced in on her dangerously high stilettos. She wore what Kagome could only call "business sexual", with a rather low V-neck top and short clingy skirt. Her black gloves were holstered by her middle fingers, and her eyes were an unnatural magenta hue, giving away her identity as a demon.

She sauntered up to Kagome and grinned, revealing her sharp white fangs. "Hello dear. Could you help me find a book?"

Kagome pointed to Inuyasha, who was watching them from the second floor. "You can ask him, up there." The scantily clad woman nodded her thanks and turned to look up at him. She gasped loudly, her hands coming up to her mouth.

Kagome watched the woman with worry. "Are you alright? What happened?" The woman shakily pointed at Inuyasha.

"Oh, his HAIR!"

Well, Kagome wasn't expecting that.

With a delicate flying leap, the demon soared onto the second floor, right next to Inuyasha. "Oh, what lovely hair! Such a pretty silver color. It's not even dyed, you can tell."

Inuyasha's eye twitched. He looked very uncomfortable, and Kagome had to stifle a giggle at his rather dumbstruck expression. "...Can I help you?"

"No, but you can let me help you. Such pretty hair... but you haven't taken care of it, have you? There's so many split ends..."

"W-what?" Inuyasha fervently tugged his hair out of her grasp and backed away. "Isn't there a book I can help you find or something?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, yes there is. Now what was it called...?" The woman tapped her bright red lips carefully in thought, before rooting around in her small purse. "Aha!"

She handed a slip of paper she had fished out of her purse to Inuyasha. His eyes scanned it quickly and he raised an eyebrow. "Nihongami no Sekai: Maiko no Kamigata?" He opened his mouth to comment, but decided against it and quickly snapped his lips closed. "That should be this way."

* * *

Kagome watched them carefully from her place behind the counter, keeping an eye on her new employee as he led the demoness down the stairs and into the informational section in a back corner of the store. The woman's book choice wasn't very odd, compared to what some other customers bought. It was surprising, the number of people who had not-so-subtly commented that they would have liked an 'adult' section in the store. Kagome wasn't usually one to judge, but if she had to, she would have pegged this customer to be one of those commentors.

Inuyasha scrolled faster than she could follow through the books before plucking one off the shelf and dropping it into the girls hands. She watched as his ears swiveled on his head and then towards the door. Kagome followed and was surprised to see that someone was indeed coming in through the door.

He wasn't very tall, and he was quite obviously a demon. He had a very irregularly shaped bald head, with two or three lone strands sticking out of the very top. Kagome knew him— he had come into _Shikon _many times before looking for books, usually about hair growth and repair.

"Hi, Manten!" Kagome said, waving cheerfully at the newest arrival. "If you're looking for what I think you're looking for, I'm sorry to say we don't have any new books for you yet. They're backed up on the order list, I'm sorry. Try again next week, huh?"

Manten grunted. "Fine, fine. I'll be back then." He turned and was about to walk back out when he suddenly stopped. His large snout went higher into the air and he sniffed loudly. "Is that a... hair demon?"

_A hair demon? _Kagome thought. She glanced over at the woman who was now on her way towards the counter, presumably to buy her book. She stopped short, her face twisting up in disgust and annoyance as she spotted Manten.

"Oh, Yuraaa!

"Good lord, what are _you_ doing here?"

Manten turned towards Kagome, his beady eyes sparkling. "Higurashi-san, your bookstore is truly a magical place, for it has brought me the one thing my heart has sought."

The demoness, Yura, rolled her eyes and leaned on the counter, tilting her head towards Kagome. "He's been hitting on me for weeks, and begging me to give him some hair, or a wig, or something like that. Can you believe him?"

"Uhhh...?"

"But Miss Yuraaa!" Manten whined. "Please, I'll do anything for you. Just one date, and a little bit of hair!"

"So not worth it. And I can't make hair _grow, _dolt," Yura scoffed as she pulled money out of her dainty purse and handed it to Kagome for her book. Kagome packed it into a pink paper bag with the store's name on it, listening to the banter as she did. She looked up and spotted Inuyasha back on the balcony, perched on the railing with his legs dangling over the side, looking amused at the interaction between the two demons below him. Kagome raised and eyebrow at him and he seemed to startle, immediately swinging off his position from the and landing on the second floor's ground, acting like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Kagome's eyebrows furrowed. She waved her hand dismissively at Inuyasha, trying to tell him that she didn't care, but he didn't seem to notice as he leaned against the bookshelf with his arms crossed instead of taking his former position.

"Thank you," Yura gritted out between her teeth as she snatched the bag from Kagome and practically fled the store, with Manten running pitifully behind her.

"But Yuraaa...!"

Though using youki-powered attacks were common in Tokyo, Kagome was still surprised when Yura lashed out and knocked Manten off his feet with a few strong strings of hair that appeared seemingly out of nowhere right outside the store.

Kagome watched in concern before turning to look up at Inuyasha. "Should we do something?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "Nah, they'll be fine." He gestured towards the window, where Manten was brushing himself off and pursuing Yura once again as she took off.

They watched the two demons until they disappeared out of sight.

* * *

The clock struck 1:00 in the afternoon, and Kagome yawned. After Yura and Manten's exit, the store had slowly filled with more and more customers. It wasn't as busy as the Ginza or anything, but they had a very fair amount of customers, and even though they were only halfway through their day, Kagome needed a break.

The craziness has slowly wound down, and the last customer was ringing up her copy of The Tales of Genji. Kagome handed her the change with a smile. "Have a nice day!" They waved to each other.

As soon as she had left, Kagome ran to the sign on the front door and flipped the sign to 'Closed'. "Inuyasha!" she called out. The half demon was by her side in an instant, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

Kagome 'eeped'. "You have got to stop doing that!" He grunted, but made no further comment.

"Anyways, we have a lull in business. Want to come grab lunch with me? I'm starving; you must be too!"

Inuyasha vehemently shook his head. "I'll stay here and watch the place."

She shot him an incredulous look. "It'll be locked and the lights will be off. No worries, Inuyasha. Nothing has ever happened before, and it won't happen now." She grabbed her purse and keys from off of the counter and looked at him. "Come on, let's go."

"Nah, really. I'm not hungry." He refused to meet her eyes. He knew he sounded suspicious to Kagome, but he just couldn't go.

"Inuyasha." Kagome's forehead creased as she tried to figure out why her new employee wouldn't go. "Look, it's not that I don't trust you in here alone or anything. I just thought it might be easier on both of us if we took our lunch break together."

He didn't reply, but adamantly crossed his arms. Kagome gave him a once-over. He hadn't come in with a bag or anything of the sort, and he didn't seem to have a wallet on him.

"Did you forget your money?"

_...Crap._

He wished he didn't feel so stupid about a little thing, but he did. He'd be damned if he let a girl pay for him. He may have his quirks, but his mother had taught him to treat a lady, not the other way around.

"Keh, so what if I did? Not hungry anyway."

Kagome huffed. Why were guys always so prideful? Was there some sort of rule in the guy handbook that forbade girls to pay for them?

"Well, you're coming anyways. It's your first day of working here— let's celebrate!" When she saw he still made no move to follow, he let out an exasperated sigh. Seizing him by the wrist, she pulled him out the doorway, and locked the door behind her.

* * *

Inuyasha was a little too stunned to speak as his new boss pulled him out of _Shikon _and onto the sidewalk. The air was brisk, and the sun dimly shone through the clouds. It wasn't a gorgeous day, but it wasn't gloomy either. It was neutral— just how he liked it.

He watched silently as Kagome closed and locked the door. "Look, I heard there's this wonderful Tibetan place that opened just a few blocks down. I've been dying to try it, but I wouldn't have gone alone. You'll be doing me a favor! Does that make you feel better?"

Inuyasha didn't say a word and wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Okay, how about 'I'm your boss and you have to do what I say?'"

He sent a withering glance her way.

"Eh, you're coming either way. " She gave him a push towards the general direction they were headed, and then began walking beside him. Knowing she had won, Inuyasha followed.

It wasn't a very large restaurant, but a wonderful venue nonetheless. Kagome had ordered from them both, since Inuyasha kept mostly silent through their whole trip. Halfway through their meal, she attempted to make light conversation, but he evaded most of her questions or ignored them altogether.

Their server obviously had some issues with Inuyasha, what with all the not-so-conspicuous glances directed at him.

Both Kagome and Inuyasha noticed. Neither commented.

But Inuyasha did not miss Kagome 'forgetting' to tip their waiter as she paid the bill.

He still said nothing.

* * *

A/N: I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! Just a few notes-

1. Argenteous - silvery

2. Also, Inuyasha's wage is approx. 35.00 USD. The amount of research I had to do about wages in Japan was overwhelming, so I sort of took a gander at how much he'd get paid. Mind you, 3600 yen is well above Japan's minimum wage.

3. I understand the job process is probably really far off how one in real life would go, but that's what I'm aiming for. I'm trying to show that Kagome doesn't really have any experience hiring workers, and Inuyasha doesn't have experience applying for a job, and that they kinda reached some unspoken compromise to wing it. If this is much too casual or unrealistic, please inform me and help me make it better!

4. I'm planning on introducing Sesshomaru in either the next chapter, or a chapter very soon. I want your guys' opinions— would you rather have him and Rin as a couple, or a father/daughter relationship? I don't mind either relationship, and I honestly can't think which would better suit this story. Thoughts?

Thanks again everyone! All my reviewers, followers, and people who fave'd me are AMAZING. So I made you all some Tibetan momo's, which I've had a recent obsession with. They're positively AMAZING.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry if this update is late, but I am telling you right now, **updates will be coming slower.** That's because school started, and there's a lot of work, guys! So, I'm very sorry if chapter come out late, but I won't be leaving this story anytime soon! If I take too long, feel free to come yell at me, slap me in the face, or whatever else it is you people do.

Disclaimer: As I said above, I go to school. Now, would I be doing that if I owned Inuyasha and friends? :)

* * *

Kagome found the store's productivity increased dramatically with Inuyasha's help. She didn't have to run back and forth from each customer and keep an eye on the cash register and door at the same time. Granted, there was next to none crime in the area, but one could never be so sure.

Inuyasha could have told her how many people were in the store at one time, she was almost positive. He always knew when someone would come in or leave, even if he was all the way on the second floor balcony, which he seemed to favor as opposed to the first floor. Not that Kagome minded. From the second floor, one could see the entirety of the store, giving them a birds eye view of people weaving between the high bookshelves.

From what she could tell, he seemed to be entirely content with what she had assigned him with, which was basically doing whatever she couldn't at a given moment. She was immensely glad he didn't ask too many question about his position. Kagome wasn't entirely sure that she could answer him— all she needed was a helping hand around the store, and that was exactly what she had received.

It had been a long and busy day. The two of them had come back from lunch to find people waiting outside the store, and an endless stream of customers seemed to follow.

Needless to say, by the end of the day, they were both exhausted. More so Kagome than Inuyasha, but exhausted nonetheless.

Kagome puffed out a tired breath and slumped against the counter. "Oh geez. What a day that was. I wonder why so many people were buying books today?"

She received only a shrug in response. "You're a pretty quiet person, aren't you? All those years at the library rub off on you?" She laughed a little at her own joke, but it quickly died down when she saw Inuyasha give no response.

"Well, it's nearing closing time, so I guess we should be going." She ducked behind the front counter, taking her purse and sweater out with her. Inuyasha's eyes watched her every move, and although she tried not to notice, it was rather hard not to.

"It's getting dark out." She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden sound of his voice. "You live far?"

"No, only about three blocks. You know the Higurashi Shrine?" Inuyasha nodded. "That's my family's place! So don't worry— but thank you for the offer!"

"Keh, no need." Kagome turned to find him staring off, that stubborn look back on his face.

"Do you live far?" Inuyasha shook his head.

"It's just about a quarter mile in the opposite direction of where you live."

"Good to know you're not traveling any crazy distances to get here. Wouldn't want to make you jump provinces or anything," Kagome said with a laugh.

Once she figured that he probably wouldn't be saying much for the rest of the night, she quickly donned her sweater to protect her from the chilly autumn winds. She opened the door and walked it, holding it behind her so Inuyasha could exit as well. Once they were both outside, she closed and locked the door. With a smile and wave, Kagome waved Inuyasha off.

He watched her until she disappeared from sight.

* * *

The first person to enter _Shikon _the next day was probably the last person on Earth Inuyasha would have guessed.

"What the hell are you doing here, asshole?" Inuyasha snarled at the man entering the store. He had scented him far before he came within proximity of the store, but was hoping he just happened to be passing by.

The man completely ignored Inuyasha, instead walking right up to Kagome. He tipped his head forward in the slightest. "Higurashi-san."

In response, Kagome smiled widely, bowing deeply before standing up straight again. "So nice to see you again, Sesshomaru-sama!" She stepped back from the counter, opening her mouth to speak, but stopped short. She glanced back and forth between Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. "Are you two related or something?"

Inuyasha continued to glare his brother down. Or at least, attempted to do so. Sesshomaru answered her question after seeing Inuyasha was not about to do so.

"He is my half-brother."

"Ohhh." Kagome mentally slapped herself. She should have guessed, what with the same silver hair and golden eyes. Demon's with strange color features were very common, but similar colors tended to be of the same blood.

"Kagome," Inuyasha began. "How the hell do you guys know each other?"

Kagome looked mildly surprised. "Don't you know? Tokyo's part of Kanto's western region, which your brother owns. So technically, he kinda owns the land my store is on, too."

Inuyasha shrugged. "I knew that. But what the hell's he doing here?"

She smiled and quickly held up one finger, signaling her brief departure. She ran into the back room and came out with a large book, which she promptly handed to Inuyasha's brother.

"He comes in sometimes for books he needs. He orders them through this store since it's easier for us to find it." Sesshomaru nodded once.

"So, little brother. You have actually managed to find yourself a decent job."

"What's that supposed to mean, asshole?"

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at Kagome. "You hired him?" She responded with a dumbfounded look. "Well, why wouldn't I?"

"I can think of several reasons." He quickly dodged a blow intended for him by his younger brother. "Inuyasha. To think you would fight in front of your new boss."

He froze and quickly glanced at Kagome, who looked more amused than angry. "It's alright, as long as you two don't actually start something." She flashed a smile at her landlord. "Was that all, Sesshomaru-sama? No orders to place?"

Sesshomaru shook his head. "That will be all." He turned to leave. "I will see you around then, little brother."

"Ain't ya gonna pay her, idiot?" Inuyasha shouted after the retreating form of his brother. Sesshomaru said nothing and briskly left the store. Inuyasha turned to Kagome. "Aren't you going to make him—"

Kagome cut him off with a laugh. "Of course not! He technically owns the store, or at the least the land it's on. It's because of him this place is so safe; he scares everybody off. Plus I've known him since I was little. The least I could do is give him the books he needs free of charge."

"You went near that monster when you were a kid?!"

"Oh, he's not a monster. Don't hate on your brother so much, Inuyasha." Kagome walked around the counter to close the storage room door. "And yeah, he would stop by the shrine a lot. Mostly to talk to my mother and grandfather. Now he comes by to get books for himself and Rin."

Inuyasha tilted his head to the side in confusion. Rin? Who the hell was that?

"Who's Rin? Sesshomaru doesn't date."

Kagome looked surprised. "He hasn't told you? Or rather, you haven't seen her?"

"...I don't think so?"

"Oh." Kagome said, frowning. "I don't know much about her, but a year or two ago he adopted this little girl named Rin. Never did get the details, but I gather she's very sweet and likes flowers. He's always getting flower books for her..."

"Wait a second..." Inuyasha looked somewhere between confused and horrified. "So _my _brother— that self-righteous jerk with a sword shoved up his ass—"

"Inuyasha!"

"Feh! Anyways, that same guy adopted a little girl? What, is she crazy powerful or got some magical heirloom he wants to inherit?"

"Well actually, she's just an orphaned human girl..."

"Human?!" Inuyasha bared his fangs. "Sesshomaru took in a _human girl_... willingly?" Inuyasha whispered to himself quietly. So now his brother would sooner call a stray human child his family than his own brother.

Not like he cared or anything...

"Keh. Guess I've got something to hold over his head now. He's always hated humans— how's he gonna explain this?"

Kagome pouted. "Hey, he doesn't hate me... I think..."

* * *

Inuyasha was doing his best to not laugh out loud at their latest arrival. A young human man with a short ponytail was currently saving himself from tripping over the store's threshold after he had slipped on who-knows-what on the way in.

He hopped towards the counter, keeping most of his weight off of his left leg which he had obviously hurt on his way in. "Ah, hello."

He received a kind smile in return from the store's owner. "Hello, sir. Are you alright? Would you like something for your ankle? We have bandages here."

"Oh no, no," the man said, waving his hands. "I'll be perfectly fine. Say, do you take special orders for books here? I'd like to place one."

"Of course we do!" Ducking under the counter where Kagome seemed to have an endless supply of random items, she emerged with a yellow notepad and a pan. "Here, just write your name and for what book, and any special requests."

"Can you get autographed books?" The man sounded rather desperate.

"...If the author isn't far nor dead, we sure can try." Inuyasha almost guffawed at Kagome's response.

"Oh thank you!" Nobunaga Amari, it seemed his name was as he scribbled it down, almost melted in obvious relief. "Here, it's this book—" He proceeded to lavish Kagome with details that she probably couldn't care less about. Inuyasha had another few customers in the store he was keeping an eye on, but one of his ears stayed tilted towards the first floor counter as he mentally laughed at the man's words and Kagome's expression.

"—and Tsuyu absolutely adores animals! And this author! So I found a book he wrote about animals. It's about a criminal couple who run an animal fighting ring underground, and—"

_If she likes animals, would a book about them fighting be the best choice? _Kagome wondered.

Nobunaga Amari proceeded to talk Kagome's ears off for only the next few seconds until she noticed a customer approach the counter. "Sorry, sir, but I'll have to cut our conversation short. I'll call when your book is here, okay? Okay!" Without giving him time to answer, Kagome shooed him off in the direction of the door, calling out a quite "Goodbye!" before closing the door behind him.

Kagome returned to her spot behind the counter, giving her next customer a tired smile. "Good afternoon, miss..."

* * *

It was 8:30, and store closing time. Inuyasha watched the last customers as the young woman and her child left the store after briefly browsing. Aside from him, the store looked completely empty, but only because Kagome had disappeared about ten minutes ago.

Where was she?

Inuyasha sniffed the air, easily deducing she was in the storage room. Frowning, he glanced at the front door to make sure it was locked before heading into the back room where Kagome's scent was the strongest.

Opening the door, he stared a little at Kagome.

She was on the floor. Asleep. She was leaning against a few boxes, her hand poised over the flap of one that was half opened. Inuyasha scoffed. Did she do this before he had started working here, too?

"Oi." Inuyasha walked over and squatted down next to the girl. "Oi, Kagome." He prodded her ribs, watching her jerk her elbows in towards herself and falling off the box part of her body had been on. He winced when he heard her body smack the floor harshly.

"Uh, I'm sorry..." Inuyasha awkwardly watched her look around a little in confusion before grabbing her under the arms to pull her upright. "Oh, thanks."

"Didn't mean to make 'ya fall like that." Kagome brushed herself off and smiled at him. "Don't worry about; it's kind of my fault for falling asleep on the job." She looked sheepishly down at her toes. "Please tell me it's time to go home. I am so tired..."

Inuyasha smirked at her "Yeah, it's time. Go home before you fall asleep on your feet."

Kagome grinned up half-heartedly at him before exiting the storage room with an audible yawn. She snatched her keys and purse from the counter, as she always did. Inuyasha was beginning to see a very strong relationship between Kagome and her precious front counter. After locked the door an shutting the lights off, the two of them stepped outside.

The moon seemed to shine brighter that night. It was a quiet night.

Kagome shivered visibly. Had she guessed it was going to be this cold at night she would have brought a heavy coat with her. Her light cardigan provided next to no warmth for her fragile human skin.

Suddenly she felt a heavy, and very warm, weight over her shoulder and back. "Huh?" She looked up and behind her to see him draping his strange large red jacket that resembled a haori over her. Though it had no buttons, it reached her knees and had over sized sleeves, but was almost unnaturally radiating warmth over her.

"Just give it back to me tomorrow. I won't need it, and you'll catch a cold in this weather." Inuyasha looked off to the side as he said this, not looking at her face. Would she be disgusted at the thought of wearing his clothes?

"No, Inuyasha, I can't take this. You'll freeze, and I don't live that far anyways," Kagome protested, making a move to take the jacket off of her. His heart warmed a little at her concern, but he didn't take the jacket back. Instead, he leapt backward, creating a few yards of distance between them.

Kagome sighed over dramatically. "Oh, fine. But I hope you know your random act of kindness won't earn you some raise or bonus," she said, winking at him.

"Yeah, sure." He looked up at the sky before turning around. "Get home. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, he evanesced, moving out of her line of view at a dizzying speed. She raised a hand to the sky in a half-wave.

Kagome slipped her arms through the enormous sleeves, wrapping the jacket around her body and reveling in its warmth.

* * *

A/N: I know Sesshomaru is supposed to be Lord of the Western lands (which presumably means western Japan), but it didn't fit in with the story since Tokyo is considered to be on the Eastern part of Japan. Therefore, I made it so that he owns all of Western Kanto, a region of Japan that includes Tokyo in the western part, in order to conform to the story.

And I'm telling you all right now— I don't have EVERYTHING planned out yet for this story— so remember that I'm open to any and all suggestions and comments!

So I basically got two votes each for either of the relationships between Sesshomaru and Rin, but I decided to go with Sesshomaru and Rin as a father/daughter type relationship since an idea popped into my head for the two of them, and I feel like it'd just work better for this story. Thank you though, for voting and reviewing anyways in the first place! Maybe I'll write a Sessh/Rin someday, because I do ship it.

Also, my computer and keyboard have been going insanely slow, so please excuse any grammar and spelling errors; please correct me on them!

Thanks to all my guest reviewers (Guest, Veena, Heartluv) for your continued support, it really means a lot, and your reviews are much appreciated!

I've been meaning to mention that in my previous chapter, the book that Yura purchased was an actual book that does exist, called 'The World of Traditional Japanese Hairstyles', which I do NOT own!

Thanks guys! You all ROCK! I hope you enjoyed this (short, I'm so sorry!) chapter! :)


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Wow guys, over 30 reviews? I am so shocked and so SUPER thankful to all of you! Honestly, I never expected a response like this, considering it's my first time and I'm not exactly an experienced writer.

**This chapter has been edited. **It's not really much, just some more development of Shippo's character and action between him and Inuyasha. I noticed that Shippo's partin this chapter really was rather pointless after having it pointed out to me by user xRaianx, so a big thank you to her!

Anyways, I bring all my fabulous and wonderful readers the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: The things I would do if I owned Inuyasha... keyword "would".

* * *

It was by far one of the most gorgeous days Kagome had seen this fall. After a few days, the weather had warmed up slightly, and the colors staining the trees seemed to have grown brighter. Sunlight filtered through them— the _komorebi _was gorgeous, filling up the entire bookstore. The leaves almost acted like color filters, and the shining light was different shades of red, orange, and yellow as a result. Kagome had decided to slightly dim the lights in the store so that the light would be more prominent. Many of their customers post-lighting-fix had complimented Kagome on how nice the store looked. She was beaming.

Inuyasha finally seemed to have gotten the hint that Kagome didn't really care how he acted in the store, as long as he was polite to the customers. Regular store clientele would know that if they needed help, all they had to do was ask the silver haired man that perched atop the second floor balcony railing.

Kagome wasn't stupid; she noticed how skittish many people, especially humans, were around Inuyasha when she pointed them his way. Demon customers usually went along with it, though she could see how they made an obvious effort to not go near or to touch him.

She wasn't sure if he had done it on purpose, but today he was leaning against the far wall, where the balcony ended, and right in a direct ray of sunlight. It wasn't blinding him, obviously, but it was highlighting his hair. His eyes were closed, so Kagome took the moment to observe him without being noticed.

His hair never did fall straight down his back— it almost seemed to be floating most of the time. Kagome supposed that was his youki's or his aura's doing, since youkai and hanyou often had incredibly strong auras. The shining hair almost reflected the colors of the sunlight, but instead it absorbed them in an unnatural way she didn't understand.

He always seemed relaxed when he sat up on the railing— maybe it was a demon thing, preferring to be in the air instead of on the ground? His normally stiff posture seemed to melt away the second he hit that railing. She had even noticed his preferred method of transportation when it came to work— flying. Often, she would notice him drop out of the sky in front of the store, or even be so lucky as to catch him hopping buildings on his way to work. Kagome propped her elbows on the counter and leaned her head on it. Well, she couldn't exactly call it flying, more like enormous leaps that covered a great distance. But if you looked at the right moment, one could only say he was flying.

* * *

Inuyasha tried not to move and resisted the urge to straight up yell at his boss. What the hell did she think she was doing, ogling him like that? Did she seriously think he couldn't notice? He could feel her stare a mile away. He knew she wasn't eyeballing him in a bad way— he could sense only her aura's state of content and small smile.

It was starting to border on creepy; she'd been staring at him like that for the past five minutes. Deciding that he'd had enough, he finally opened his eyes and met her eyes head on. "Yes?"

He startled himself when he jolted the second his eyes connected with hers.

For a second...

_For a second he saw Kikyo..._

He wasn't stupid— he'd noticed the resemblance the very first time they'd met. The hair was slightly different, and so were the eyes. But something about them was just so... similar. He couldn't place his finger on it no matter how hard he tried.

He wanted to look away, but he couldn't.

"HEY!"

Inuyasha's gaze snapped over to a young boy he hadn't noticed come in. A kitsune with orange hair, probably only twelve or thirteen was grinning at the two of them like the cat that had that swallowed the canary. Or, more appropriately in this case, a kitsune who just played a trick.

"One of you lovebirds gonna help me or what?"

Inuyasha gritted his teeth and leaped from his perch, landing in front of the boy. "What'd you just say, twerp?" He kept his voice on a low level Kagome couldn't hear.

"Oh, Shippo!" Inuyasha immediately dropped his threatening stance and took a step back. "Inuyasha, did you say something?"

For a human, she sure had some damn good ears.

"Nope."

"Hey!"

Kagome looked back at the young boy. "Whatcha need, Shippo?"

"Uh..." One look at the rather familiar looking strange white-haired man and his devilish glare immediately made him rethink his words. "Just, um, wanted to stop by and say hello to you, Kagome! Hehe..."

Kagome furrowed her brow. _Wonder what's got Shippo so freaked out. _She turned to look at Inuyasha, who's gaze quickly shot up to the ceiling. _Eh?_

"So Shippo, how's the second term of school going? Is that girl still bothering you?" Kagome unabashedly asked. Shippo turned red and turned away. Inuyasha smirked. "What, are you telling me you're gettin' bullied by a girl?"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome admonished. "Don't say such things! Shippo's just too nice to hurt her, isn't that right, Shippo?"

It was Shippo's turn to smirk. "Yeah, cause I'm a mature, young gentleman. Unlike you!" Shippo stuck his tongue out at Inuyasha, who growled and held up a fist in return. "Brat..."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome whirled on him. She opened her mouth, but was cut off when she saw a customer step into the store. "There, go help that customer!" Inuyasha grumbled and folded his arms, but followed his given orders anyways.

"So, this is your new employee, Kagome?" Shippo asked. Kagome grinned at the kitsune. "Yup! Just started a few days ago. He's been a huge help around the store lately. Which is why I don't think I'll be needing your help tomorrow, thank you. You are more than welcome to come, though!"

"Yeah..." Shippo half-listened to the store owner. His attention was mostly focused on watching Inuyasha as he helped the customer find his book. "Kagome? You.. you do know who Inuyasha... is, right?"

She tilted her head as she gazed at Inuyasha with Shippo. "Yes, Shippo. And before you ask, no, I have absolutely no problem with him working here, and neither should you. I can tell what you're thinking."

Shippo nodded and turned to leave. "I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow, then, Kagome." He waved and gave her a cheeky smile before leaving the store.

On the second floor, Inuyasha's ear twitched in their direction. _What's happening tomorrow?_

* * *

It was near closing time now. The store's back lights were off, and only a few lights illuminated the counter and the front door. Inuyasha stood against the door, arms crossed, watching Kagome close up.

"So who was that kid, anyway?"

Kagome briefly glanced at him before going back to locking the storage room. "You mean Shippo? Oh, I've known him forever it seems. Probably because he's technically older than me, being a demon and all. But he's more like a little brother to me."

"Uh..." _What the hell kind of sense does that make?_

"He comes by and helps me around the store sometimes. A sweet kid, really."

Inuyasha cringed. In his mind, the kid looked like the perfect punching bag.

"Hey, speaking of help," Inuyasha began. "What's going on tomorrow?"

"Oh, you must have overheard us! I'm sorry— I almost forgot to tell you. We have a read-aloud day for children on Fridays, which is tomorrow. Shippo would just come by to help manage crowd and read to the children sometimes. I'm going to need you to help out tomorrow. You wouldn't mind right?"

"Do I have to do the reading?"

"Nope."

"Then sure." _Read-aloud? It's like a library here, sometimes._

Kagome grinned. "Thank you, Inuyasha. Hey, there's a chance you might see your brother again tomorrow, too. He comes for them pretty often."

The next noise out of Inuyasha was a cross between a cough and a squeak. "Sesshomaru likes being _read aloud _to?!"

Kagome laughed out loud. "Goodness, no. But wouldn't that be quite the sight? No, he brings Rin for them since it's right after school. Oh, hey, now you can finally meet her!"

Inuyasha grumbled. "Yeah, guess so."

They parted at the locked front door of _Shikon_, going their separate ways into the night.

As Inuyasha rounded the corner, he took notice of a dark shadow leaning against a wall, quickly discerning it as none other than the boy who had been in the store earlier, Shippo.

"Why are you still hangin' around here?" Shippo didn't look the least bit surprised as he turned and leveled a gaze at Inuyasha. "To talk to you."

Inuyasha sighed. "Look, I'm not stupid. I heard what you were telling Kagome. I don't care what you've heard or what you think, but I'm not going to hurt her."

"Aren't you?" The kitsune's eyes narrowed. "After all, you had the audacity to murder your girl—"

A 'thud' resounded down the street as Shippo went flying and hit a far wall. By the time he had collected himself, the white-haired half-demon was already in front of him.

"I did not kill Kikyo." Shippo desperately tried to stifle the fear incited by his cold voice. "Don't you _dare _assume anything about me, or even her. Call me a half-breed, mock me, but don't act like you know who I am. Because you don't."

Inuyasha pushed off the ground and shot straight into the air, so high that Shippo couldn't see his form.

He stood shakily, slightly out of fear that the hanyou would return. When he was certain he wasn't coming back, he relaxed his slightly bruised form against the wall, watching his breath materialize in white clouds in the cold.

* * *

"So you're my oji-san!" Inuyasha stood frozen as an unfamiliar little girl latched onto his leg. She was probably only seven or eight years old, and judging by her scent and who she had come in with, she was the Rin that Kagome had told her about.

"I see you haven't fired my incompetent half-brother yet." Inuyasha looked up from the little girl to glare at his older brother, who was currently talking to Kagome.

"Of course not! He's been such an amazing addition! Really, Sesshomaru-sama, give your brother some more credit!"

"Half-brother."

"Yes, yes..."

Inuyasha managed to successfully pry Rin off of his leg. "So, this is the girl you adopted?" He looked down at her face. She was a cute little thing, with brown eyes like Kagome's and a section of her hair pulled into a strange side ponytail.

"What of it?" Sesshomaru held out a hand, and Rin promptly placed her small backpack adorned with flowers into it.

"Can't believe that you, of all people, decided to take in a human."

"Hn." Sesshomaru ignored Inuyasha's prying curiosity. "Higurashi-san, I will return to pick up Rin in an hour."

"Of course Sesshomaru-sama." Kagome watched on as Sesshomaru gave Rin a caring pat on the head before departing.

"Keh, you sure that he's not using her for his own twisted reasons?"

"_Inuyasha!_"

* * *

Inuyasha looked nervously at the crowd. Wide eyes, all different colors, both human and demon. Boring into his very soul. It was incredibly unnerving and he wanted to squirm under the pressure. There had to be hundreds— no, thousands. He couldn't stop staring at them. They were all monsters, about to—

"Snap out of it!"

Inuyasha ears twitched violently at Kagome harsh whisper. "What's your problem, woman?"

"Me? You've been locked in a staring contest with those kids for the longest time! Are you scared or something?"

Inuyasha scoffed. "Keh, you're talking about me here, remember? I'm not scared of any kid. There's just... a lot of them."

Kagome looked dubiously at the rather small crowd. "There's like, twenty of them. Man up and introduce yourself!" She gave him a little push forward, moving behind him so he was front and center. Leaning against a bookcase behind the children, Shippo fought a snicker that was about to escape at the hanyou's predicament.

"Um... I'm Inuyasha Takahashi..." He turned around, but only to meet Kagome making a "go on" gesture with her hands. "I uh... I work here now... and..."

"Are you dating Kagome-onee-chan?"

Inuyasha visibly flinched. "Wha... of course not!"

Rin turned towards the child who'd spoke the question, a girl younger than her with her hair in pigtails. "Inuyasha's my oji-san! He would tell me if he was dating anybody, and he hasn't yet!" She turned back towards Inuyasha, looking at him with big brown puppy eyes. "Riiight, oji-san?"

_Fuck, kids are scary. _

"Right..."

"Okay then!" Kagome clapped her hands together and plopped herself down in the large wooden rocking chair in front of the children. They were all gathered in the store alcove, with children sitting on the beanbag chairs, chairs, and the floor. Some parents still remained, but many had left, obviously used to bringing their children to Kagome's story time. "Today's story is going to be _Momotaro_!" She held up a large picture book with the title on it, a picture of the peach boy on the front. "Who here has heard of the story of _Momotaro_?" Several little hands went up eagerly, proud of their knowledge.

"That's great! Well then, let's start shall we? Everybody..." Inuyasha watched in amazement as Kagome cued the children, and at once they all chanted the famous beginning words of a fairy tale. "Once upon a time..."

Inuyasha watched Kagome as she read aloud from the book, holding it in such a way that she could see the words and the children could see the pictures. She would wave her arms around, change her voice when she read different dialogues, and got into the story as much as the children did, possibly even more so. He kept one ear on her story and the other trained on the door, knowing he had to help out customers while Kagome was reading.

Her enthusiasm was catching, it seemed, because all the kids were paying rapt attention to the story. Inuyasha caught himself smiling slightly at the end of the story as everyone clapped wildly— even he liked the way she told stories. It was no surprise why this event was so popular.

"I'm so glad you liked this story, everyone! Now, who wants to tell me what happens in the story?" Kagome pointed to a child in the back, who started talking quickly, easily summarizing the story in an almost professional manner.

"Great job, Satoru! I see someone's been practicing their summary skills! Now who can answer this question? Who was the one who..." Inuyasha watched, entranced, as Kagome asked the children questions, only to have whoever she chose get the answer correct. He was almost positive she was doing it on purpose— testing the children on their reading skills.

_Do the kids even know that they're kind of being tricked?_

It obviously didn't matter, since it seemed that they were having fun either way. The parents smiled at their children, who were eagerly and unknowingly learning. Shippo just grinned as he watched the whole scene. Inuyasha just looked on with what was probably a mild look of surprise on his face. They locked eyes, and both of their expressions transformed into cold glares. Obviously, neither one had let go of the conversation topic from the previous night. Kagome, however, has completely oblivious to the tension between them.

Inuyasha wasn't sure how could one person have done so much on their own before? Sure, she'd had that kid Shippo, but he didn't really count in his book...

He looked on from behind everybody, as Shippo went and handed each child their own copy of _Momotaro_ Kagome had in a box he had gotten from the storage room. The children all waved goodbye to Kagome and some even hugged her before running off to join their parents who were coming in through the doors. Sesshomaru was amongst them, barely sparing the two of them a glance before collecting Rin and leaving.

Shippo stuck behind with them as everyone else deserted the store.

"Oi runt, why are you still here?"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gave him a confused look. "Do you have a problem with Shippo?"

Shippo smirked and began to open his mouth, but was cut off as Inuyasha jumped in with his answer. "No." He looked long and hard and Shippo. "Absolutely nothing is wrong. Right, kid?"

Shippo narrowed his eyes. "Yeah..." He gritted his teeth, but turned around. "I'll see ya around, okay, Kagome? Stay safe, alright?"

Kagome blinked. "Uh, of course, Shippo. Thank you for your help today. Come around again soon!" Shippo nodded and walked out the door, slowly. Inuyasha stared after him.

"Inuyasha?" He didn't look at her, but tilted his head in her direction. "I know Shippo may not be very open-minded about... you know..." She bit her lip and looked at her employee, who said nothing but dipped his chin in a gesture for her to continue. "But I want you to know I don't harbor any ill will towards you, okay? About... anything."

He looked flustered, but his facial expression barely changed. "Uh, thanks." Kagome giggled. "Of course, it's no problem, Inuyasha." She turned towards the alcove and began to move the chairs and beanbags back to their original positions.

"Anyways, you're pretty good with kids, huh?" She snapped her attention back to Inuyasha. "What do you mean?"

"You get all into your reading for the kids, and you even make them answer questions right. If I had to do that, I think I'd kill myself." It wasn't meant to be a joke, but Kagome laughed either way.

"I'm sure you'd have done fine; kids really aren't that scary. As long as you know how to make reading fun, it's really easy! Maybe I'll have you read to them one day."

Inuyasha choked on air.

"Or not..."

* * *

Inuyasha yawned as he waited outside of _Shikon _for Kagome. She came out, dressed in appropriate cold-weather clothing, and locked the door behind her.

"Inuyasha, I had almost forgot!" He watched as she gave him a neatly folded up pile of red cloth.

"It's your jacket that you lent me. I'm sorry I hadn't returned it yesterday, but my mom insisted on doing a wash on it for you. It was the least I could do, really." She handed the jacket to him. "Thank you very much for it, Inuyasha."

She turned and walked away quickly towards her house. Maybe it was the chilly wind that was making her cheeks so pink, Inuyasha thought.

With a shrug, he went on his own way.

* * *

A/N: So some of you may notice I kinda of interchange between the Japanese and English terms for things (ex. Youkai-demon, hanyou-half-demon, etc.) and so I apologize. I kind of just go with whatever fits the text better, in my opinion. If this seems unprofessional or annoying, PLEASE let me know so that I may fix my error.

I found out that Japan's schooling system is different from America's— they have three terms. One from April - July, a second one from September to December, and a third one from January to March. Cool, huh?

Also, _Momotaro_ is a pretty popular Japanese fairy tale— it's super cute, check it out!

Komorebi - sunlight filtering through the trees. It's a Japanese word— isn't it gorgeous?

Don't worry, Shippo won't be hating on Inuyasha. I want this story to kind of mirror the original story's events, and Shippo was kinda iffy towards Inuyasha at the beginning. So, this is the result. :)

I started branching out, watching some more anime. **Kaichou-wa Maid Sama!** — I loved so so SO much! (I think I have a little crush on Usui...) **Special A** was also totally epic! I also watched this 45 minute long one-shot called **Hotarubi no Mori e**— left me in tears for about ten minutes.

As you people can probably tell, I love romance! Anybody got suggestions for me? I'm open :D

Again, thank you so much everyone for reviewing, following, and fave-ing! *Gives out super yummy chocolate*


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hey guys! I'm updating a tad early (I think) since I finished this chapter earlier. I suggest you go back and re-read chapter 5, since I edited it some. Thanks to xRaianx for the helpful feedback on how to fix that chapter up. I wasn't liking how I wrote in the interaction between Inuyasha and Shippo, and she really helped me fix it up.

Thank you to all of my reviewers, because you are ALL awesome! I have **50 followers,** and almost 40 reviews! In my opinion, that's pretty awesome for a beginner! I couldn't have made it this far without the support and kindness I've gotten from everybody! I hope you like this chapter— I was crazy upset over my lack of fluff so far, so I threw a teeny bit in. I hope it wasn't pushing anything too fast!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Who owns Inuyasha? (Hint: It's not me.) Rumiko Takahashi ROCKS.

* * *

"Inuyasha, I'm warning you! You had better not peek, okay?"

"Alright, alright," he grumbled, closing his eyes and placing his hands over them, remaining completely still. It was pointless, really. His hearing and sense of smell could determine exactly what she was doing, and where she was going.

"Okay... open!" He sighed and brought his hands away from his eyes, already knowing what he would be presented with.

"Look, your first paycheck! Aren't you excited?" Kagome grinned and held out the white check, written on with her pristine handwriting. "I hope I didn't do the math wrong— the hours and the pay, I mean. I'm pretty sure its all in order, but feel free to double check."

"Thanks." She handed him the check, wrapping fingers around it when he barely made a move to take it. "Why do you look so guilty? Geez, I'm supposed to be paying you, and you're supposed to be getting paid." Inuyasha grunted and took it from her, haphazardly shoving it into his red jacket, drawing Kagome's attention to it.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you— what is that?"

"Huh?" Inuyasha looked lost. "That." She pointed and shook her hand at his crimson outer garment. "It looks like a haori, but it also looks like a jacket. I asked Mama what it was when we were washing it, and she said it was a haori, but I'm still not sure."

His eyebrows lifted. Did it even matter what it was? "Keh, tell your mom she was right. Its a haori, but it's as warm as any jacket you humans wear."

Kagome laughed. "Us humans? What, you never wear a jacket in the winter?"

"Nope. This is all I need."

"Wow, maybe I should get myself one of those."

"Can't— it's one of a kind."

"Oh, really? Well, where did you get it from, then?"

She immediately noticed a shift in the air when she asked the question. Inuyasha lost the slight upbeat air he'd had around him and she could almost feel the upset surrounding him. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was looking down slightly, wisps of his silver hair falling down the sides of his face.

"My, um, my parents gave this to me. A long time ago. You won't find them around anywhere nowadays."

She quickly grasped the double meaning in his words and decided to veer away from the subject. "Well, at least you don't go around barefoot and say things about weak humans needing shoes," she joked, trying to draw him out of his saddened state.

He jerked his head back up, all traces of whatever had upset him vanishing. "Well, actually..."

She gasped and looked at his feet, relieved when she saw him wearing old, but heavy, sneakers on his feet. "But you're wearing shoes."

He shrugged. "I didn't use to, 'cause they weren't necessary. I could just jump from one place to another. You humans consider than 'uncivilized' now, so I wear shoes. Honestly, if I could, I'd walk around barefoot."

Kagome laughed out loud. "I wish I had your strength. I'd be complaining after a few minutes of being barefoot on the pavement."

Inuyasha looked out the front windows of the store. "The cement isn't so bad, but walking on earth is a hundred times better. You should try it sometime."

She smiled and looked at him from the corner of her eye. "You know what, maybe I will."

She rested her elbows on the counter and got a far-away look in her eye. "It's been a while since I've enjoyed the world's natural beauty."

* * *

"Ah, Kagome-sama!" Inuyasha watched warily as a young man dressed in casual clothing grasped his boss's hands and pulled her closer to him. "How is this lovely day treating this lovely young lady so far?"

Kagome smiled nonchalantly at him. "It's been good, Miroku-sama. It'd be even better for both of us if you would let go of my hands and stop trying to look down my shirt." The man, Miroku, sheepishly pulled away and rubbed the back of his head while laughing nervously. Kagome self-consciously adjusted the neckline of her shirt.

He suppressed a growl, jumping from the second floor and landing next to Kagome, making her jump, but not fazing the strange guy at all.

"What do you think you're doing?" While Inuyasha looked about ready to punch the guy in the face, Miroku was looking rather calm. "I was just greeting Miss Kagome here."

Kagome sighed. "Yeah, Inuyasha, this is actually pretty normal. Don't worry, he's just a harmless friend. And he won't try anything like that on you." She eyed said friend cautiously. "You won't, right?"

A grin lit up the purple-eyed man's face. "Well, I don't know, Kagome-sama. Your friend here is quite the looker."

Kagome coughed violently to cover up the laugh threatening to escape her at Inuyasha outraged look. "Alright, you perv—"

Breaking out in laughter, Kagome put her hands on his balled up fists before he could start a fight. "Don't, Inuyasha, he's just joking. Really." He grumbled, but came out of his battle stance.

"So, anyways, Miroku, this is Takahashi Inuyasha. He's my new helper around here, and he's such a big help! I don't know how I managed before he came along." Inuyasha coughed and looked away, a slight blush forming on his cheeks from the compliment. "I just do what you pay me to do, woman."

Kagome's face twisted up slightly at the "woman" comment, but she made no move to reprimand him. "And Inuyasha, this is Kawasaki Miroku— a long-time friend who will come around occasionally. So, sorry, this isn't the last you'll be seeing of this pervert."

"Kagome-sama, how you wound me with your words..." Miroku pouted, faking hurt at her insult. He turned towards Inuyasha. "In any case, it's a pleasure to meet you, Takahashi-san." He bowed politely towards Inuyasha.

* * *

Inuyasha bristled at the first sting of spiritual power, unconsciously stepping back. The man wasn't directly attacking him, but he could feel rather immense holy power radiating from him, and he'd rather not be accidentally purified.

Kagome pulled Miroku up from his bow and pushed him away slightly. "Looks like I forgot to mention something..." She laughed nervously. "Miroku's a monk— he goes around exorcising evil youkai from people's houses." At this, Inuyasha eyed the man with distrust and took a step back. "No, he's not going to purify you, Inuyasha. Right, Miroku-sama?"

The monk burst into a silly grin. "Of course not! How could I harm such a kind lady's companion?" He narrowed his eyes slightly and tilted his head to the side. "Yes, you have a very clean aura, regardless of your demonic heritage. You've always had a good eye for men, Lady Kagome." Miroku gave her a flirty wink.

Kagome's face turned bright red. "No, we're not _together,_ or anything. We're just friends, right Inuyasha?" She giggled as she turned towards her companion, who was a shade away from matching his haori. "Y-yeah, get your head out of the gutter, bouzu."

"Bouzu? I am a holy man, a humble servant of Buddha. I believe I deserve far more recognition than—"

"Miroku-sama, is there any real reason you're here?"

The man sighed and adjusted the short ponytail at the nape of his neck. "Nah, I just wanted to drop by and say hello. While I'm here, though, I guess I'll browse." He saluted to his friend before taking off in the direction of a bookshelf.

"Inuyasha's here if you need any help!" Kagome called after him.

"Will do!"

It wasn't long before Miroku beckoned Inuyasha over.

"Sorry to bother you, Takahashi-san." Inuyasha stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets. "It's just Inuyasha."

"Okay then, Inuyasha. Could you point me towards where you keep meditation guides or books? It's good for the soul— meditating, I mean, not finding books." He laughed at his own joke, but stopped when Inuyasha made no move to laugh but instead began to lead him towards the appropriate section.

"So, how long have you been working for Kagome-sama, Inuyasha?" Inuyasha tiled his head to the side. "About a week, I'd say."

"Ah, so you've seen the read-alouds she does for children?" At the nod he received, he continued. "She truly is a people person, one for the community, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah." Inuyasha stopped in front of a shelf and gestured to the books on it. "It's a wonder she doesn't get robbed, it seems she spent so much time away from the register before I started working here."

"That's the result of Sesshomaru-sama's influence on the area. Say, do you two know each other? You two look pretty similar," Miroku remarked, pausing in his browsing to take a step back and examine the hanyou.

Inuyasha growled. "Yes, yes, we're related. Did you find what you needed yet?" The monk was getting on his nerves— he wasn't used to talking with the clients, whether they were friends of Kagome's or not.

"As a matter of fact, I have." Miroku pulled a book off of the shelf and headed towards the front counter. "Thank you for the kind word exchange, Inuyasha."

"Yeah, whatever." He returned to his rightful place on the second floor railing, eying the man now walking towards Kagome.

* * *

"Hello again, Kagome-sama." She gave him a friendly smile. "Hi, Miroku-sama. You're buying a book?"

"Yup." He placed the book on the counter and pushed it towards the woman.

"Miroku-sama, you know you don't have to pay for anything you buy here," she began. "Please put your money away."

"Utter nonsense, Kagome-sama. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't pay you for a book I take out of your store?"

"A very good one."

"Ah, pretty and funny. How lucky I am to know such a woman." He sighed and put his hands up in defeat. "Well, I guess I'll be on my way then. Good day, Kagome-sama." He walked around the counter to embrace her. Above them Inuyasha stiffened, immediately on alert when he saw one of his hands begin to trail downwards.

"Oi!" He hit the ground beside the two the second Kagome's hand hit one of Miroku's cheeks. He grabbed the monk by his shirt's collar and lifted him into the air. "Get ready to say hello to Buddha, bouzu."

"Inuyasha! Put him down, he didn't mean any harm. Trust me, he's always like that." Inuyasha didn't look away from the man dangling in his grasp. "Seriously, no harm done."

Miroku's feet finally touched the floor. "I'm glad we could resolve this conflict without violence, friends." He rubbed his sore right cheek. "Well, with little to none violence." He grabbed his book off of the counter and waved. "I'll see you two later!"

Inuyasha glared after him. "Don't worry, that won't happen again anytime soon." He paused when he noticed her frowning at the counter. "What's wrong?"

She sighed and picked up a thousand yen note on the counter. "He always does this, and I wish he wouldn't."

"Does what? All he did was pay for a book in a store, like he's supposed to."

"Yeah, but..." She reluctantly opened up the cash register and put the note in its rightful place. "First of all, he's a trained and professional monk. He knows all there is to know about meditation; he doesn't need that book. And even if he did, he's my friend. He's not supposed to pay for it."

"Then why did he buy it in the first place?"

She propped her chin up on two elbows. "Honestly, I don't know. He's just like that. Maybe the book was for someone else, but I do know that Miroku-sama always has a way of getting what he wants if he really wants it. Random acts of kindness are kind of his thing."

"It's not like you're not kind, either."

"What?" She looked up at him, surprised at the offhand compliment, but he was gazing in the other direction and blushing profusely.

"Keh. Nothing, never mind..."

* * *

"Oh, I hate it when people leave the books on the tables," Kagome grumbled as she picked books strewn over the alcove tables. "It really isn't so hard to put them away."

"Yeah, but it's a lot easier to just leave them lying around, which is why they do it," Inuyasha griped. He helped put the books back into place, going at a considerably faster pace than his co-worker.

Kagome took a look at her last book, giving herself a minute to remember it's proper place. Once she got it she walked to the far wall, climbing the rolling ladder attached to the bookshelf so she could reach the top shelf. Her short height wouldn't even let the top of her hand reach the shelf.

The space she was trying to reach was just slightly out of reach. Sh braced her left hand on the shelf to try to push the rolling ladder closer to the spot she was trying to reach, but it wouldn't budge. Frowning, she pushed harder on the shelf, but the ladder wouldn't move. Giving one final hard shove, the rolling ladder finally jolted hard to the right, startling Kagome so badly she tumbled backwards off, the book flying out of her grasp.

Before she had time to think or scream, she caught a flash of a bright color, like silver or white, before she found herself being held safely by her newly hired assistant. He held her in one arm, and had managed to grab the falling book with the other.

The look on her face was utter surprise. "Inuyasha... thank you so much!" She awkwardly managed to get her arms around his shoulders and hug him, completely missing the blush that spread across his face.

Inuyasha's eyes darted from side to side. "Uh, sure, no problem." He walked over to a recliner in the alcove, gently setting his boss down in it. "You hurt?"

She almost shined— that's how brightly she smiled at him. "I'm perfectly fine, thanks to you. I really do wonder sometimes how I survived before I hired you."

"Keh, clumsy woman, you'd have a broken ankle right now, that's for sure." He turned towards the shelf and put the back back in former position, not bothering to use the ladder as he was tall enough to reach it himself. Frowning, he squatted down to inspect the rolling ladder. "The wheels are locked— that's why you couldn't move it. Just remember to unlock them next time."

"Sure thing, Inuyasha!" She hopped up from her seat and headed towards her beloved front counter. "Ready to go?"

* * *

A/N: So, I liked Miroku in this chapter. I hope he was in-character, and everyone else was too. Please, please, PLEASE tell me all your comments and thoughts on this story— I want to improve it and make it as good and as in-character as I can! Now, a few notes...

1. Can someone out there explain to me how names in Japanese are created? (Such as Inuyasha and Sesshomaru.) I'm pretty sure they're not common Japanese names, but rather names Rumiko Takahashi made up to fit her characters better. It seems really interesting, and I would love to learn about it.

2. Youkai does not directly translate to demon, contrary to popular belief. It's more of a word to describe supernatural/paranormal beings and apparitions. Thats why I stated that Miroku exorcises youkai, as opposed to just demons. Now he can exorcise ghosts and evil spirits and whatever.

3. Bouzu, from what I've sen in other works and in the sub versions of the show, is what Inuyasha called Miroku, a derogatory term for a monk. However, I can also see that bonzo is what Inuyasha calls him, from other sources. Does anyone know the correct terms?

All criticisms and comments are welcome! Thank you all for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: So I thought it had been two weeks since I updated... turns out it was more like three, so I wrote this out over the weekend. I apologize for the lateness, and I thank you all very VERY much for the support! Seriously, you all rock!

In the spirit of Halloween, a Halloween themed chapter will be coming up after this one! Because, I love Halloween, so yeah...

Disclaimer: I'm too tired and lazy to say I own Inuyasha.

* * *

"Perfect..."

Under the cover of dark, a figure moved in the shadows, darting from one corner of his shabby and small apartment to the other. He held an old-fashioned paintbrush in his right hand, which dripped at the end with a strange colored substance. One might say it was black, while someone else might disagree, saying it looked rather red in the light.

To the figure, it didn't really matter.

He picked up his old-fashioned bamboo brush and dipped it into the liquid, slowly stroking it, almost lovingly, over his paper, creating the most grotesque and unique figures on his paper.

Under the cover of dark, he grinned and laughed manically. He ran his tongue over his crooked, unsightly teeth as he concentrate fervently on his paintings, getting up every so often to add more solution to his inkwell.

"Yes, just perfect..."

* * *

Taking a bite from his cup of lukewarm ramen, Inuyasha ignored the unsatisfying temperature of his noodles and ran from the kitchen to the living room for his jacket. He wouldn't be late, obviously, but he still liked to get there the second she opened the doors.

_See? I can be a good, dedicated employee. Keh, take that, Sesshomaru, you ass._ He scoffed and crossed the room, cursing when he accidentally stepped on his TV remote. He ignored the various words coming from the news anchor on the TV as he shrugged his haori on over his jeans and white shirt.

_"— and citizens in the surrounding area are baffled as to what the cause of this strange destruction and murders are. Witnesses report seeing strange substances on the ground, both familiar and foreign to them at the same time. Investigators are looking into the cause of these deaths. As of now, rogue demon involvement is suspected. I response to the twenty-eight gruesome murders, we advise you to take precautions at all times if you live in the Saitama area. This is—"_

Frowning, Inuyasha picked up his remote and shut the television off. He mentally calculate the distance between Saitama and where he and Kagome currently resided. It was a fairly large distance; there was no reason to care about something that wouldn't affect him.

Slurping down the rest of his ramen, Inuyasha tossed the cup aside and stuck his foot into his sandals, locking the doors behind him and stepping outside.

* * *

"Kagome-sama, Kagome-sama!" An exhausted looking Miroku burst into the store the second Inuyasha jumped down from the second floor, sensing the young man from down the street.

"Kagome... sama..." He paused and leaned on the counter, desperately trying to catch his breath, obviously having run a long distance to reach _Shikon. _"I have some good news for you!"

"Oooh, really?" She paused in her book shelving on the now mobile rolling ladder, carefully hopping down. "What's up, Miroku-sama?"

"I have a job for you!" Inuyasha's ear twitched, and he tried not to look too much like he was eavesdropping, even though they both probably knew he could hear every word that they were saying.

"There have been sightings of some strange looking demons in the Saitama Prefecture. I have been called there to exorcise them— I thought it would be a great opportunity for you if you came to help me!" Miroku looked rather pleased with himself.

_Saitama... demons... I think I know..._

"You're gonna make her go slay demons on her own?" Miroku frowned at Inuyasha's words. "Of course not. I will be there to protect Kagome-sama. You are welcome to come too, Inuyasha."

_Twenty-eight gruesome murders..._

He gave Kagome a sidelong glance. "'Ya going?" She nodded fervently. "It'll mean I have to close for today, but that's all right. Sales have been through the roof lately, and I'm pretty sure it's all thanks to you!" She pushed the rolling ladder away from herself and gave him a cheeky smile. "Guess you deserve the day off today, huh?"

She was surprised when he shook his head. "I'm going with you."

"What? Why?"

"Cause you're gonna be fighting _demons."_ He jerked his head towards Miroku. "What good can he do to help?"

"Hey! I will have you know that I am —"

"Inuyasha, Miroku is a very strong monk, and he trains with me sometimes. I assure you, I'll be fine," Kagome began. "Besides, I think that you deserve a day off at the very least. You've been working very hard since you've came here."

"I'm going." He wouldn't look her in the eyes, but adamantly stared forward.

There was a short silence between the three before it was broken by Kagome's question.

"So should we leave now?"

* * *

Inuyasha had announced that he would be back once they had the store locked up and they were ready to go. He had taken to the roofs, most likely toward his house.

Leaping through the air, he ignored the sharp and cold winds hitting him across the face. He barely felt them, but they still were there. His human half tended to show itself at some of the worst times, such as now.

Sometimes, he wasn't sure if it was his demon side or his human side which had the most control over his feelings for Kagome. He wasn't too sure why he had declared to go with her on her journey today. It wasn't like there was much he could do — he certainly wasn't a priestess himself.

There was no good reason for saying that the monk, Miroku, couldn't protect her. He could feel the man's aura, one that was quite strong, almost surprisingly so, for someone that young. He was probably around Kagome's age, but he had the power of one much more experienced and older than him.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed off extra hard on one rooftop, leaving a slight dent in the bricking and cement, before landing straight in front of his house. Hurriedly opening the door, he made a dash for his room and grabbed the thing he was looking for.

Tetsusaiga was originally his fathers sword, that he knew. But from what he had heard from his mother and Sesshomaru, mostly his brother, was that it had more capabilities than the ones he had witnessed firsthand. So far, all he could do was transform the sword into its true fang form, and fire _kenatsu _with it. Sesshomaru had mockingly told him that the sword was capable of much more, probably more than he could handle.

_At least I can actually touch the damned thing._

He snarled slightly, and shoved the sheath of the sword through his belt loop, the sword following suit.

In two bounds, he was out of his house and heading back towards _Shikon._

Time to prove his brother wrong.

* * *

He never did like cars. Fifty years ago, he thought them unnecessary and ridiculous contraptions for weak humans.

Fifty years later, he still did.

They had all piled into Miroku's car, much to Inuyasha's dismay. He would have traveled alongside them on foot, but then realized doing so would have left Kagome alone in a car with that pervert...

He quickly rethought his decision and found himself sitting grumpily in the backseat while Kagome and Miroku rode upfront. At least he could keep an eye on the pervert and his wandering hands, which thankfully stayed attached firmly to the steering wheel the whole time.

The roads, surprisingly, were not too crowded, and Miroku's car glided easily through traffic. The seventeen mile trip took a little over a half an hour, and Inuyasha was thankful when he pulled over on the side of a completely deserted road after hitting the outskirts of the city. They exited the vehicle, following Miroku's lead as he turned towards the west, away from the city and towards the vast plains and empty land.

"There." Miroku pointed to a broken down looking house, although a better word for it would have been shack, in Inuyasha's opinion. There was an unpleasant scent wafting from it, making Inuyasha's nose wrinkle in distaste.

"So what exactly will we be dealing with here?" Kagome inquired, taking a curious step towards the shack. "I can feel a demonic presence, but it's a little bit... off."

"Precisely," Miroku commented. "What I've been told are that these are not natural demons. Meaning they were created by someone else. Whether they are human or demon, I cannot tell you."

As they advanced towards the hut, a blast of a youki energy wave hit them hard. Miroku and Kagome were affected slightly by the attack against their reiki, but Inuyasha was almost keeled over.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome rushed over to him, gently putting a hand to his forehead. "Are you alright?" With a slight cough, he pushed off the ground and rose to his feet, narrowing his eyes at the hut.

"Blood."

"Huh?" Kagome asked, confused by the word. She quickly looked him over, but saw no blood.

"Blood and ink. A lot of it, coming from in there." He covered his mouth and nose with his haori sleeve, indicating towards the hut. "Whatever it is, it's charged with youki, blood and ink."

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked.

"It seems to be affecting you quite a bit," Miroku added. "Perhaps you should sit this out and Kagome-sama and I—"

"No. I'll be fine." Inhaling through the cloth sleeve, he knew he could hold his breath for a long time.

"There were alleged rumors of someone living here. A human, though. I'm not entirely sure as to how this..."

Miroku cut himself off as a large, reddish-black demon launched seemingly out of nowhere straight towards him. Yanking something out of the inside of his jacket, he quickly mumbled a few words and tossed it towards the demon. The papers connected, appearing to burn the demon on contact. It howled, and then disintegrated. Into a puddle of blood and ink.

Inuyasha choked violently and took a flying leap backwards. Kagome ran after him, following him to where he had retreated by the car. "Inuyasha, what's wrong?"

"The smell... it's too strong..." He sneezed loudly, and then cursed under his breath. "Damn."

Kagome sent him a worried look. "Hey, maybe you should just wait inside the car then—"

"Keh! I'm not some weak human, I'll be fine." He sent her a wavering glare. "Maybe you should wait inside there until this is over."

She scoffed. "I'm supposed to be here, to help develop my powers. That reminds me," she said, opening the car trunk and pulling something out. "Miroku! Heads up!" The monk whirled around and quickly caught the large golden shakujo with one hand, sending her a smile of gratitude before turning around to face the strange, unnatural demon.

"And this here is for me," Kagome said, brandishing a old-fashioned red bow, and a quiver of arrows which she slung onto her back. "See? I'm armed, so I'm safe."

Inuyasha scoffed. "Do you even know how to shoot?" Kagome stuck her tongue out at him. "Of course I do. I come from a shrine, remember? I practiced every day. I might be a little rusty, but I've still got it." To prove her point, she pulled an arrow from the quiver. Inuyasha watched, slightly entranced, as she and the arrow began to glow a soft, lilac-pink hue, the energy around her crackling, almost sparkling. He could feel power come off her in waves, stunning him slightly.

Did she know how much power she possessed?

_She's just like Kikyo... _The little voice in his head taunted, and Inuyasha couldn't help but agree a little. Her powers were almost a mirror of Kikyo's. The spiritual ability, the color of her powers.

Their aura's were completely different, however. Kagome's was lighter and just... happier. Kikyo's was heavier, darker, more.. sorrowful. She never was as carefree as Kagome. She was always focused so adamantly on her spiritual training, but Kagome's attentiveness towards him was almost refreshing.

_No, stop... _

What was he doing? Comparing his _boss _to his now deceased girlfriend? He shook his head, clearing it of the strange thoughts.

Right now, he had a battle to focus on. His first in a long, long time. Grinning, he unsheathed his sword, and smiled as it grew in size into it's true form.

He remembered when he used to practice with the sword, at a very young age and with his mother. She was the reason he had figured out how to transform it. On their way back home from the dojo, they had become the target of two robbers. Making a bold declaration to protect his mother, the swords had pulsed, one, two, three times, before transforming into it's fanged form.

Needless to say, the robbers had screamed in a very un-manly fashion before scurrying away from the child and his mother.

Inuyasha had glanced up at his mother, very confused.

"_Mama..."_

And now, because of his affection towards humans, the sword recognized him and lent him its power.

"Wow, Inuyasha," Kagome commented. "Where'd that come from? It's so cool!" She snorted. "Sure beats my bow and arrows." She paused thoughtfully. "You know, it kinda—"

"Watch out!" Inuyasha grabbed Kagome around the waist and pushed them both off the ground, soaring about fifty feet above the demon which had just tried to attach them. He cursed and look down at the wraith-like demon, the scent of blood and ink once again overpowering his senses. He hit the ground and carefully set Kagome down before collapsing on his knees as well.

"Oi, bouzu, what's going on?" Inuyasha shouted. Miroku turned and furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm not too sure. These demon's have the strangest aura about them. They appear to be paintings come to life."

"I can see that! It's not helping!" Sighing in frustration, he covered his nose and stalked towards the hut. Ignoring his somewhat blurry vision, he kicked the door down. The hut shuddered, before completely collapsing.

Inside, a man lay on the floor, covering his head with his arms. He was holding several scrolls, as though to protect himself from whatever threats were about to be made on him.

"You responsible for this?" Inuyasha growled as he hefted the man up by his shirt collar.

"Unhand me, filth! My loyal demons, attack him! Feast on his blood!" Struggling, he managed to open one of the many scrolls and toss it at Inuyasha. It glowed for a second, before whatever was painted on it leaped off, growing to life-size proportions. The artificial demon was no match for Inuyasha, however. Completely disregarding his sword, Inuyasha cut the demon down with his claws, which glowed a vibrant yellow as they slashed through the blood and ink.

"Keh, how's... that... " Inuyasha's cocky voice slowly faded as the stench of the blood and ink on his claws took over his senses and made him pass out.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried out. The man opened several more scrolls, laughing maniacally as they surrounded the fallen hanyou. She shot an arrow through the crowd of blood thirsty demons, immediately killing them all, but showering her employee with more blood and ink. "Miroku-sama, please—"

"I'm on it!" The monk fought his way through the steadily appearing demons towards Inuyasha, hefting him off the ground and carrying him off of the battlefield, setting him down next to Kagome. She stepped in front of him protectively, shooting off arrows into the horde of disgusting demons.

"Miroku-sama, why are they alive?" Kagome cried over the deafening sounds of demons roars. "They're just paintings!"

"I want to say," Miroku began, pausing between words to purify the demons in his way. "That it is... the blood... but unless... it's magic somehow... that's quite... impossible!" He stopped, panting for a few seconds, before hopping back up to face the demons.

The painter laughed madly, opening more scrolls and tossing them towards the fighting duo. "It's no use! I, Kotatsu, have more power, I have all the power!"

Gritting her teeth, Kagome pulled the bowstring back, eying the bottle the man was holding. _He has a special paint to make these... if I shoot it...!_

With a battle cry, Kagome charged her arrow with her reiki, feeling it infuse with the wooden and metal arrow before releasing it. It flew, a little wobbly, but mostly straight towards its path. She barely nicked the side of the container though. Before the painter could react, she fired another one, which cut open the bottle. Ink and blood solution poured out, coloring the battleground an ugly red. Kagome covered her nose and coughed. Good thing Inuyasha was still out— he would have been dying.

"You fool! You'll kill them!" Kotatsu screamed, fervently dropping to his knees and soaking his hands in the wretched mixture. "My children, my power..."

The remaining demons were still plentiful. Miroku ground his teeth together as he watched the man about to make a run for it. He clenched his right hand tightly before unwinding the beads which he had covering them.

"Miroku-sama, don't!" He ignored Kagome's plaintive cry behind him as he yanked the rosary off, created a black hole-like suction coming from deep within his palm. He braced his feet on the ground as the hoards of demons seemed to come at him at once, before disappearing within the dark recesses of his hand.

* * *

Miroku inhaled deeply before fervently resealing his hand to prevent anything extra from being absorbed by his wind tunnel. His kazaana had never had to withstand being open for such a long time. He had also never absorbed such a strange energy— life force given to inanimate objects in order to make them alive somehow. It was foreign to his body, a rare thing, considering the many things his wind tunnel had absorbed.

He stood as straight as he could before taking off after the man, yelling over his shoulder at Kagome to tend to Inuyasha. He ran as fast as he could, which, for a human, was rather quick. He pursed the man, Kotatsu, catching up with him easily despite his injury. With one hit on his staff, the man was down. Miroku stood above him, pointing the tip of his staff down at the man.

"You are not a demon, not one who possesses spiritual powers, yet you make your paintings come to life. I do not like needless violence. Do explain how this was possible."

Without his strange blood demons to protect him, the man was obviously not gloating about his power now.

"I was promised power. He did something to my paints, and told me to add blood, human or demon! That's all!" Kotatsu wailed, raising his arms in defense.

Miroku glowered. "Who? Who said this?" He was ignored as Kotatsu fervently began to pat the ground, as if in search of something. "Aha!" He picked up a sharp piece of wood and raised. Miroku, thinking he was aiming for him, jumped away. He was surprised when the foolish man plunged it into his own arm and raked it down, leaving an enormous gash that immediately began to bleed. His blood dripped onto the floor, intermingling with the remnants of his ink-like substance. He laughed wildly.

"Now, I will restore my great power! Feed, my pets, feed! Feast on my blood!" He eagerly held his arm out, and the mostly dead ink paintings rose off the ground, creeping towards him, before latching onto his arm like leeches.

Miroku watched, horrified, as they began to suck blood from the mans body, leaving him paler and paler with each passing second.

After a minute, he was nothing but dry skin on bone. Too shocked to utter a sound, Miroku quickly made work of the newly risen demons and chanted a prayer, plunging his staff into the ground. A blue wave of purification swept over a field, and he carefully made sure to target only the demons and not harm Inuyasha, resting only a few meters away.

The strangest job he'd had in a while, and he didn't even get all the information he wanted. Sighing, he collapsed on his knees in the middle of the ink and blood soaked field. He was too confused.

* * *

As Kagome watched Miroku dart away, she opened the car door, and found a roll of towels in the backseat. She took a few and carefully dabbed the hanyou's face, attempting to get the disgusting and putrid substance off him. He seemed to be having difficulty breathing, so she wiped his face first, trying to get the ink off of it. She adjusted him, a little awkwardly, so his head rested in her lap. Hopefully, he wouldn't wake up anytime soon, she thought with a blush.

As she leaned down to work on a particularly sticky patch near Inuyasha's eye, her hair fell forward and brushed against his nose. His nose twitched and he inhaled deeply, before his eyes fluttered open. "Wh-what? What happened?"

Kagome squeaked, obviously not anticipating his waking. "Oh, uh, I-Inuyasha! You're finally awake. You, uh, passed out from the smell. Are you alright now?"

"Mm... I think so." His voice croaked a little and his eyes were practically fighting to stay open. "I'm so 'ired, though, 'Gome..." he wiggled his head in her lap before resting it so his head faced her way. "You smell nice..."

If Kagome was blushing before, she couldn't imagine what she looked like now. "Well, ah..." She paused when she realized he had fallen back into unconsciousness.

She sighed and rested a hand on his hair, using the other hand to continually wipe ink off of his person.

* * *

The car ride back was silent. Inuyasha had woken up, but was still rather groggy. They had passed Kagome's shrine a while ago, so she had bid them good-night, leaving the two men alone in the car.

"Oi, bouzu?"

"It's Miroku, and yes?"

"What was up with that guy?" Miroku was silent, seemingly in thought, for a while before he answered. "He told me that someone had promised him power, and did something to his ink to animate it. All Kotatsu had to do was add the blood." A dark look overtook his face. "He killed himself before I could get anything else off of him."

Inuyasha tilted his head to the side. "Does Kagome know?"

Miroku shook his head. "She... she's still in training for her powers. She thinks this was a simple exorcism, and only questioned it once, not again. I don't want to overwhelm her with worries. She runs a business, and that itself is enough work for her."

Inuyasha furrowed his brow. "Speaking of which, she mentioned somethin' about you randomly buying books for no good reason. Something I should know about?"

One corner of Miroku's mouth turned up slightly. "Ah, Kagome-sama has been such a wonderful influence in my life, it is only right that I repay her with some extra walking-around cash, don't you think?" He pulled up at a curb, outside Inuyasha's house. "This is the address you gave me, right?"

Inuyasha nodded once. "Yeah, um, thanks, I guess," he mumbled, unused to thanking people. "'Night, then."

Miroku gave a wistful smile as the hanyou exited his car. "Goodnight."

* * *

A/N: So I'm glad we started mock trial in school now, because Inuyasha's trial is coming up soon! Or well, a flashback of it, more like. I really was confused on how court system's worked out, so now I have a pretty good idea of it. However, does anyone know how Japan's court system works? Is it similar to ours, crazy different? All comments and ideas are welcome!

Kenatsu - Tetsusaiga's ability to hit enemies with concentrated youki without actually touching the opponent/object.

Reiki - Very basically put, it's spiritual power, like those that priests and priestesses like Kagome and Miroku possess.

I am very tired, and I'll fix grammar error's tomorrow! Feel free to point them out, though. I'm open to all comments!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: So this is the promised Halloween chapter. Next chapter up will most likely by Inuyasha's trial, or at least, a part of it. That is going to take me a while, so be prepared to wait a while 'til the next update. Sorry about that, guys! Thank you ALL, for your loyal reviews, follows, and fave's, because you all rock.

Disclaimer: Owning Inuyasha sounds like a lot of work.

* * *

Walking down the street, Kagome inhaled deeply. She loved the smell the air had when it rained, which it had the night before. She loved both the rain and the leaves of the fall— even big dreary downpours could not wash away the vibrancy of the leaves' colors. It gave the spring in her step, the smile on her face, and fuel for her daily optimism. After all, how could she not be happy when life at _Shikon _was going so well?

It really wasn't too long of a walk between her store and her home, the Higurashi shrine. When she got close to the store, Kagome looked around to make sure no one was watching, before throwing her arms out and spinning in a circle, laughing freely. She couldn't help the adrenaline surgeshe just felt so happy.

She was broken out of her giddiness when she felt someone grab her hands and stop her from hitting said person. She opened her eyes to see Inuyasha watching her with a raised brow. Slightly surprised, she flashed him a quick smile.

"Hehe… good morning, Inuyasha. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you drop in," Kagome said a little embarrassedly. "That was pretty cool; I wish I could walk around all stealthy and ninja-like. Being half-demon must be pretty cool!"

Inuyasha gave her a look like she was crazy. "Believe me, it's not all it's cracked up to be." He released her hands with a slight blush when he realized he was still holding onto them. "Um, sorry…"

"Don't be." Kagome cheekily clapped her hands together before reaching into her purse to extract her store key. She opened the door for them both and closed it behind herself once they were inside. "Hey, I have something to ask you. Are you a fan of Halloween?"

"Halloween? Isn't that some American thing?"

"Oh yeah, I've forgotten…" Kagome grinned and waved him over to sit with her on one of the couches in the alcove. "I guess you didn't hear about it since it's a recent thing— Japan's sort of recently adopted America's version of Halloween. Everyone dresses up, tells spooky stories. There's even a Halloween festival in the Kanagawa Prefecture."

"Um, that's great…?" Inuyasha had heard of what Halloween was like in America. He knew what cosplaying was. _Just another fucking excuse for kids to play dress up…_

"…I was wondering if you would come to work tomorrow dressed up?"

"Eh?" Inuyasha looked startled. Him? Dressed up? Those two things didn't exactly go together quite well.

"I mean, you don't have to, but we usually decorate the whole place for Halloween, and I dress up… so I'd really appreciate if you did." Kami, he sweared, she did that weird thing with her eyes on purpose. They got inhumanely big and started to shine, and it cast some kind of weird feeling of guilt in his heart. Maybe it was a miko thing— he wasn't too sure.

"Well, I don't think I have a costume, but I guess I can try to dress up. Tomorrow, right?" Kagome nodded and leaped forward, hugging the taller man around the middle. "Thank you so much! I hope you're not going out of your way or anything." She pulled back to look at him, almost giggling at the look on his face. He appeared so shocked— had he never been hugged before in his entire life or what?

"N-nah, I'll think something up." _What the hell am I gonna do?_

"Awesome! Thanks, Inuyasha, now let's get to—"

"Wait!" Kagome paused in getting up from the cough. "Tomorrow… how long will we be working until?"

Kagome gave him an odd look. "Well, Halloween isn't going to change anything. Until nine o'clock, silly, just like usual!" She got up off the couch. "Now come on, I just got a new shipment in, and we need to shelve those suckers as fast as we can!" She raced off into the storage room.

Inuyasha rose as well, sighing heavily and raking a hand through his hair.

_Damn, what am I gonna do?_

* * *

It was probably already midnight, but Inuyasha was up late with worry. It wasn't as if he could waltz into _Shikon _without a costume— he likely wouldn't get fired, but he was not taking his chances.

But where on Earth was he going to think up a costume?

Sure, he had old clothes, from when he was a child— in other words, probably from two centuries ago. Too bad they didn't fit him, and he had only kept them because he forgot to throw them out.

With a frustrated sigh, he resumed shuffling through his wardrobe. He dug his hand deep into the clothes pile until it come in contact with something… rough? Soft? Frowning, he pulled the strange material out from the bottom of his clothes pile to stare at it in wonderment.

A pair of red, slightly worn out _hakama _stared him in the face. He shook them out a little, and coughed on the dust that came out, and wrinkled his nose.

They looked ridiculously out of place, but with his haori…

With something akin to a grin on his face, Inuyasha laid the pants next to his worn out haori-jacket. They matched exactly. The jacket was so old; the pants probably went with them.

Together, they looked ridiculously gaudy enough to resemble some form of Halloween costume. Good enough for him, he thought.

Down to the last issue— his hair.

What was he to do with it? He was obviously going to stay outdoors well into the night tomorrow, otherwise he'd have no problem leaving it as it was. He would have gone out and bought a wig, if his hair wasn't so long and thick. There was no way he was wearing some girl's cosplay wig just for this.

Making a disgruntled noise, he flopped backwards onto his shaky bed. He'd figure it out sooner or later.

* * *

It turned out to be "later", as Inuyasha awoke from what he thought was a brief nap, but turned out to be the entirety of the night. With a curse, he realized he had only a half an hour to get dressed and to work.

He disliked rushing in the morning— he liked to be lazy and go about things slowly. After showering and scarfing down a cup of Ramen as fast as he could, he donned his "costume". Tied together with an _obi _and wearing a traditional white undershirt beneath his usual jacket, he looked at himself in the mirror. He looked old-timey, but not enough so…

Snatching Tetsusaiga from its place on his bedside table, he slid the sword and its sheath into place on his hip. Giving his long, shiny, and very ostentatious hair a mournful look, he slipped on a pair of geta sandals before leaving the house.

* * *

Kagome woke up with a smile. There really wasn't much that could get her down on this day, not when she loved to dress up so much. She had taken great care in laying out, washing, and ironing her costume last night. Coming from a shrine, naturally she had an obvious theme in mind.

The miko robes had supposed been passed down by generations, according to her eccentric, yet loveable, grandfather. They were still in fantastic condition though, having been stored in a trunk in the shrine's warehouse, which had also doubled as a costume trunk in Kagome's mind.

Red hakama, a white shirt, the weird socks and sandals… Kagome looked herself over in the mirror as she tied her hair up with the traditional white ribbon miko's in the feudal ages had worn, carefully brushing her wavy bangs away from the ponytail in the back of her head. She stood for a minute, admiring her handiwork in her mirror before picking up her red bow and a quiver of arrows to complete her look.

A quiet knock sounded from the open door. "Kagome?" Her mother walked in with a smile on her face. "You look so beautiful! Like the miko you are," she said.

Kagome giggled. "Thank you, mama. I really like it, too." She grabbed her bags from beside the bed and headed for the door. "I'll see you tonight, mama— happy Halloween!"

With a soft smile, Mama Higurashi watched her daughter leave the house. "You too, dear…"

* * *

"Wow, Inuyasha, you look great!"

Inuyasha almost jumped at the abrupt voice that sounded behind him. He cursed himself for not hearing his approach, too deep in his own thoughts. There stood Kagome, looking more Kikyo than ever. His jaw dropped.

"Inuyasha? What's wrong? Oh no, did Mama not tell me about something on my face? I swear…" Kagome grumbled as she swiped at her face. "There, better?"

"Oh, no it wasn't that…" Inuyasha fumbled vainly over his words. "You, uh…" He scratched his head. "Keh, you look nice, too." A light blush appeared on his cheeks.

"Thanks! I'm a miko, can you tell?" Before he got a chance to speak, she continued. "What's your costume?"

"Me?" Inuyasha pondered, looking down at himself. "I'm not too sure…"

"You look like a warrior from the Sengoku time period. Kinda like a samurai, but… different." She took a step closer and pointed at the weapon at his hip. "Wasn't this the sword you had the other day?"

"This is Tetsusaiga. It's some old family heirloom I got."

"That's the most kick-behind heirloom I've ever seen. Just don't go waving it around inside the store, alright? You might scare the customers away!" She laughed and took his hand, dropping something into it. "Happy Halloween!"

He looked down at his hand as his boss unlocked the doors. There lay a small wrapped up package of homemade cookies.

"The hell is all this stuff for?" Kagome ignored the curse, used to his sometimes foul mouth and ignorant of it unless he turned it on a customer, which he never had.

"For Halloween, silly! I love to decorate the store for holidays— it's the best part! Come on, just grab something and make the store look as Halloween-y as you can!" Kagome was already moving around, stringing up silly pumpkin decals and placing decorative autumn leaves on bookshelves. Unsure of what to do, Inuyasha picked up what looked like a tiny squash with warts and squinted at it. "The fuck?"

"Aren't they cute? I ordered them online." Kagome bounced over and rifled through the box. "I got a whole bunch for a discount, so there might be more than you think. Have fun with it!" With a raised eyebrow, Inuyasha plunged his hands into the box of ridiculously bright and "scary" ornaments "Wait!"

"Yes?" Kagome grinned and reached into the box as well, pulling out a large, purple and white beaded necklace. "I knew I still had this somewhere! I saw your costume and thought this would go great with it!" She stood up on her tip toes and draped the necklace over his head. "There. Do you like it?"

"Keh. Looks like a collar." He raised an eyebrow at her. "You trying to say something?"

"No, it does not! It looks… matchy with your outfit!"

"'Matchy' is not a word."

"Neither is 'keh!'"

Inuyasha huffed, but gave her a small, rare smile. "Touché." He touched the necklace lightly. "Um, thanks. I'll remember to return it—" Kagome waved a hand. "Nah, keep it. It's not like I've ever used or needed it."

As she left, Inuyasha looked down at his new necklace, deciding it didn't look so much like a collar after all.

* * *

An hour and a half later, Inuyasha was getting a slight case of orange-o-phobia, seeing as how a majority of the store was covered with it. Sure, it was… pretty… but couldn't she be more "Halloween-y", as she called it, with a less disgusting bright and cheese-like color?

People came in crow, obviously drawn in by the lavish display before them, and were happily surprised when they were greeted with a smiling miko and warrior, ready to hand them candy.

"_It's more of an American tradition, but I think free candy is good for everyone!" _Kagome had previously explained to him when he questioningly eyed the large bags of chocolate she was keeping under the counter. Needless to say, he never was a fan of chocolate. It made his stomach hurt like hell.

Around four or five in the evening, Kagome had warned Inuyasha of another children gathering. "It'll be WAY bigger this time," she said sheepishly. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you earlier."

So there he was, standing in the midst of a bunch of adorably costumed children huddled around him, trying to grab his sword or reach his ears while Kagome looked on a little unsurely, and Shippo, who decided to make an appearance that night, laughed his tail off.

"Are they real?" A little boy asked, trying to climb the hanyou in a desperate attempt to reach the man's ears.

"Yes, yes they're real," Inuyasha grumbled, delicately prying the boy off of him. He did his best to keep his long claws from ripping the boys' clothes or tearing his skin.

Shippo snickered. "Aw, you poor puppy…"

"You little—"Inuyasha stopped short, laughing at the kitsune. "The hell are you supposed to be?" Shippo huffed, and looked proudly down at his costume. "I'm a magician, and I can even do real magic tricks! See?" Shippo threw something down in a puff of smoke, and the next thing he knew, Inuyasha's hand were pinned to the ground with a stone statue of Buddha somehow weighing them down. He couldn't pull his hands out even using all of his strength.

"You had better get out of here, you—!" His eyes widened when Kagome stomped over and suddenly slapped a hand over her co-worker's mouth. "Shhh, Inuyasha, there are children here! Small, impressionable children!" She removed her hand from his mouth and pointed the large hordes of children behind them, watching them curiously with large eyes. "Now what's going on here?"

"Kagome!" Shippo whined with a pout. He pointed childishly at Inuyasha. "He made fun of my costume!"

"Did not! I asked what you were! And then you had the nerve to put this fuc—"

"INUYASHA!" She sighed loudly and pulled the ofuda holding the statue down, unfazed as they both disappeared in two loud bangs of smoke. "Inuyasha, don't provoke Shippo, and Shippo, don't do such things. It was rude, both of you."

"But—"

"Oi—"

"Just apologize to each other, please?" Kagome turned back to the children.

"Keh," Inuyasha huffed, looking to the side. "Sorry, I guess."

Shippo childishly stuck his tongue out at him. "Yeah, you better be!"

"You too, Shippo," Kagome said in a monotone voice, not even turning around to look at her two demonic friends.

Shippo paled slightly. He hated that tone. "Um, I'm sorry, Inuyasha."

Kagome's shoulders seem to relax. "Isn't that better? Now, let's all arrange ourselves into a circle. We're going to a play a game I think you all know…"

* * *

Even a kid, Inuyasha had never played children's games. Now, as a grown adult, he was playing his first one.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't secretly kind of into it.

It was a story game, the "Halloween Edition", as Kagome liked to call it. Going around in the circle, the children recited a story, one word at a time.

It began with a word from Kagome—"There." It continued from her to Inuyasha, who added the next word, "was." From there, it flowed surprisingly smoothly; all of the children appeared to have become masters of this game, most likely by playing it quite often.

Together, they move the spookiest of stories about a girl names Hanako-san who haunted school bathrooms. Occasionally, the children broke the story-telling mode in order to "correct" each other with details, modifying the story to that the toilet swallowed up the children, or that the bathroom was on the second, not the third, floor. Kagome just laughed and went along with it. Inuyasha supplied gory adjective and adverbs to the nightmare fuel. They probably weren't going to sleep tonight anyways— might as well.

Halfway through the story, Inuyasha glanced through the store window and paled. Outside, the sun was painting the sky with the colors of the autumn leaves, almost completely sunk beneath the horizon. He scrambled to his feet and ran away from the circle.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome inquired after him, but when she received no response, simply shrugged. _Must have gone to use the bathroom. Oh well._

The game went without a hitch either way, and all of the children, and even Kagome, were delightfully spooked by the end of their little story telling session. She awarded all of the children with pieces of chocolate and wished them all a safe and fun Halloween. Shippo gave her a warm hug around the middle before cheekily accepting the many pieces of candy Kagome handed him and mrrily heading on his way.

She shut and locked the door behind them, smiling widely. She had always loved the Halloween stories the children told. She found it displayed their creativity more than writing stories when they combined their talents and ideas.

Turning from the door, she realized with a frown that Inuyasha had not yet returned. Was he hiding? She sighed— she remembered the first event with the children she'd had and how he'd acted, but he wasn't _really _scared of kids— that'd just be ridiculous. Besides, with his super hanyou hearing, shouldn't he know they were gone by now?

"Inuyasha?" No answer— her frown deepened. "Inu-YA-sha, the kids are all gone, you can come out now," she joked. Still, there was nothing.

"Did Hanako-san get you?" She tried again at an attempt at humor. She ascended the stairs, figuring he might be hiding out where he usually did— his beloved second floor overlook.

"Hello?" Her voice seemed to echo up there, and she noticed with a chill that the lighting up here was darker than she remembered. Hugging herself, she fearfully descended the stairs.

_Thump._

Her head snapped in the direction of the sound. "I-Inuyasha? Is that you?" _Please say yes_, she thought internally. She had never been one to get so easily frightened on Halloween, but the disappearance of a person was enough to rattle her.

Nearing the storage room, she slowly put her hand on the knob.

* * *

_Aw, fuck!_ Inuyasha cursed himself mentally when he accidentally knocked over a box in the dark and winced. He couldn't see a thing when he usually could, and it was pissing him off.

"I-Inuyasha? Is that you?" His eyes widened at the sound of his bosses voice. He could hear her faint footsteps slowly draw closer, and swung his head around looking for a place to hide.

Alas, if he could only _see._

The sound of the doorknob rattling made his heartbeat speed up, usually a difficult thing to do. While looking frantically for a place to hide, the door opened, hitting him head on with a stream of light.

Kagome's scream resonated through the store and he covered his ears on either side of his head. "What, what's wrong?" He asked, annoyed.

"INTRUDER!" She screamed, pointing at him. "Intruder! In-In..." She squinted and took a step forward. "Inuyasha…?

"Yes, it's me, I'm not some fucking robber," he grumbled, taking a step closer. The light shone down on him more, highlighting his now distinctly different features.

"What happened to you?" She took a lock of his black hair in her hands and inspected it curiously. "Is this part of your costume? Masquerading at a human?"

He jerked his head back, the piece of hair falling out of her hand. "No." He kept his gaze down. "I… am a human."

"You made a huge point when we met about you being a half-demon. Are you feeling okay?" She reached up to rest a hand on Inuyasha; forehead, subsequently tilting his head up at the same time. "Hmm, no fever, but…" She trailed off, finally seeing his eyes.

His _human _eyes— a dark color, almost purple, like Miroku's. Looking closer, she couldn't see the outline of contact lenses. "How...?"

"I told," he began, shoving her hand away. "I'm human." He left the storage room, opting for the window instead. "See? No moon in the sky."

"…And?"

Inuyasha sighed. "The nights of the new moon, once a month, I turn human. My mom tried to explain it to me— some crap about fluctuating energy between my demon and human energies." He grumbled angrily. "By sunrise, I'll be back to normal." He turned his eyes towards his boss, a small grimace hinting at the corner of his lips. "Um, I'm sorry… for scaring you…"

She waved a hand nonchalantly through the air. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm just relieved you weren't Hanako-san, about to shove me into the toilet."

Inuyasha snickered. "Hey, um, you've got to promise not to tell anybody about this, okay? It's a secret."

"Why?"

"Because I'm weak," he answered simply. "I'm human— weak, vulnerable, and ready for any hanyou-hating demon to kill now. Hell, Sesshomaru would have a field day if he ever found out about this."

"No, he wouldn't— he's your brother," Kagome admonished. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "But don't worry, I won't tell a single soul."

* * *

The store had officially closed for the night, and Kagome and Inuyasha had just finished stripping the store of its Halloween décor.

"Will you be safe getting home tonight?" Inuyasha 'keh'ed. "Of course I will, I'm not just any weak human right now."

"You were just calling yourself a weak vulnerable human!"

"Yes, and now I'm saying I'm not just _any _weak, vulnerable human! There's a difference."

Kagome giggled. "Of course there is. Goodnight, Inuyasha, and Happy Halloween."

"Night."

Kagome barely turned the corner before she heard a muffled yelp and an audible 'thump'. Concern filled her as she quickly doubled back and stopped short in her tracks to stare.

There stood the human form of her employee, slashing at some strange spider creature with a thin, rusty katana that was obviously doing him no good, half covered in spider web silk and a thin stream of blood dribbling down the side of his head.

"Inuyasha!" Without a second thought, she grabbed an arrow from the quiver behind her back and narrowed her eyes, hitting the creature squarely between the eyes. It evanesced in a shower of lucid pink sparkles. Once it has fully disappeared, she ran over to Inuyasha and knelt down beside him.

"Are you alright?" She brought her hand up to try and dab away some of the blood, wincing when it still continued to run. "What was that?

"Yeah I'll live. Besides, it'll be gone by sunrise," Inuyasha grunted, waving her hand away. "That was a spiderhead— some form of annoying spider demon—" His head jerked up when she screamed. "What is it?"

She shakily gestured to several spiderheads emerging from the shadows. "There are more?!" She cried, taking a step back. "I don't think I've ever stood up to so many demons at once before."

Using his katana as a sort of walking stick, Inuyasha hefted himself to his feet and stepped forward. "Here." Here pulled his sword sheath out of his obi and tossed it lightly towards Kagome. "No matter the form I'm in, that should still be able to put up a protecting barrier."

"But don't you—"

Completely ignoring her, Inuyasha rushed headlong into the hoard of demons, surprising his boss as he easily managed to cut down a large number of them with his sword. Though not in its demon form, Tetsusaiga still had a surprising amount of strength when its true wielder swung it.

She watched in awe as, even though he was mildly injured, Inuyasha managed to lithely dodge many spiderheads coming his way, backflipping and jumping high to avoid being caught by the horrid youkai. Snapping out of the daze of watching her coworker fight like he lived for it, she managed to shoot purity arrows into the demons Inuyasha missed.

So they unknowingly worked together, long range and close combat attacks slowly diminishing the spiderheads until they were completely gone from sight, and Kagome could no longer detect their auras.

The two breathed heavily, silent momentarily, before Kagome asked, "What was that?"

He turned to look at her. "What was what? The spiderheads? That was a demon attack, stupid."

"No, I know that, but…" She trailed off, frowning and looking unsettled. "I told you, we don't get a lot of attacks around here because of your brother… I wonder what's causing so many now? First there was the weird painter guy, and now these— it's really strange."

Inuyasha remained silent, but walked over to Kagome to retrieve his sword sheath. "Whatever it was, we'll figure it out tomorrow." He looked the sheath over in his hands. "Looks like it took a liking to you, if it let you amplify the barrier with your own powers."

"Huh?"

Inuyasha snorted. "You didn't even notice? The barrier from the sheath— your spiritual powers strengthened it. This thing doesn't let just anyone mess with it, you know."

"Oh, wow." Kagome looked dumbfounded. "Thanks, then, I guess— what an honor to be respected by your almighty and powerful sword."

"Keh! Are you mocking it?"

"Now why would I do such a thing…?"

All joking side, Kagome took a look at Inuyasha's forehead. "Hey, you're still bleeding; let me—"

"No, no, I'll be fine." Inuyasha messily wiped the blood off of his forehead with his haori sleeve and backed away from her, a slight dusting of pink on his cheeks.

Kagome sighed, but didn't attempt it again. "Are you sure?" Inuyasha nodded his head once.

"Okay, well, um… Thank you, for saving me from those spider demons. I don't think I could have done it on my own." A blush of her own rising to her cheeks, Kagome darted forward and hugged the stunned hanyou-turned-human around the middle, giggling a little when he tensed up.

Inuyasha, completely unsure of what to do, patted her on the head like she was a child. "Um, sure, no problem." He gently put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away. "Go home, it's getting late, okay? I promise I'll be fine tomorrow."

"Do you want me to walk you? I mean, you are human tonight, it must be harder to get home—"

"It won't be a problem," Inuyasha said sternly. "See ya tomorrow— night."

Watching him walk off with a tiny smile on her lips, Kagome whispered back, "Good night."

Back home, Inuyasha wandered into the kitchen, exhausted, and sat down on a chair. He reached into the holds on his haori, extracting the package Kagome had given him before.

Not a single cookie was broken.

* * *

A/N: I'm not as good at suspense and surprise as I want to be, but oh well.

I looked up Halloween in Japan and found that it's only a recent fad in Japan. People dress up, carve pumpkins, just like American's do, and they even have Halloween festivals. I didn't find much on trick-or-treating, so to be on the safe side, I decided to leave it out. (Kinda.)

In regard to the new moon… I know perfectly well that a new moon at the end of a month, like October 31st, is basically impossible/does not happen, but I'm taking advantage of my creative license and running with it right now I apologize to anyone out there who's really adamant about the truth of moon phases and whatnot.

Hanako-san of the Toilet (or _Toire no Hanko-san_) is a real Japanese urban legend, of the ghost of a young girl who died in WWII. She haunts school bathrooms, appearing when someone enters the third stall of a girl's bathroom on the third floor and shouts her name three times. Anyone who knows the Bloody Mary game can see some sort of resemblance here. I do NOT own this story (but it is pretty awesome).

According to the Inuyasha Wikia, it states that this may the episode where they begin to develop feelings for each other, therefore I decided to reflect that in my story as well.


End file.
